Capital Medical Center - RN Case Manager Vote Notice

RN Case Managers will have the opportunity to vote on Friday, October 24, from 12pm to 1pm at the Cascade Room (in the cafeteria) on joining the new RN contract.

The full contract document will be available to review during the voting period and the new RN contract is available online on the UFCW 3000 Capital Medical RN contract page. To participate, you must complete a union membership application and vote in person.

If you have any questions, please contact your Union Representative, Kimberly Starkweather, at (206) 436-6515.

Contract Vote Scheduled

October 24
12pm - 1pm
Cascade Room
In the cafeteria

Capital Medical Center - We Approved the Tentative Agreement!

On October 8, nurses overwhelmingly voted to approve our new contract! This agreement makes us competitive with St. Peter and provides meaningful wage increases that will strengthen retention and recruitment.

From the beginning, our goal was clear: secure a contract that keeps us competitive with nearby hospitals and addresses workplace issues through stronger language. We believe this agreement does just that—supporting better staffing and giving management a clear framework to provide incentive pay when short-staffing occurs.

Nurses will see their wage increases reflected on the October 24 payday. Our next step is to finalize and post the blackline version of the contract online. In the meantime, you can review the redline version here: >>

Remember: a contract only matters if we enforce it. We encourage you to get involved in your workplace—join the Labor Management Committee, the Hospital Staffing Committee, or become a workplace leader in your department. An active and informed bargaining unit will ensure an even stronger contract in 2028.

If you're interested in getting more involved, please reach out to Kimberly Starkweather at 206-436-6515.

Please fill out our Post-Bargaining Survey >>

Capital Medical Center RN - Making Progress!

Over the past few sessions, our Capital Medical RN bargaining team has been working hard to move negotiations forward on a successor contract. While we have reached tentative agreements on many language items, we have not reached an agreement on a lot of economic pieces. In our most recent session on September 19, we put all our outstanding proposals on the table. These proposals are not minor details—they are critical to recruiting and retaining nurses at our hospital.

Let's be clear—our priorities aren't optional. Nurses need:

• Better staffing solutions and manageable patient loads

• Incentive pay for vacant shifts

• Competitive wages and benefits that recruit and retain RNs

• Improvements to report pay for on-call nurses

• Increases to premiums

• Respect for the work we do every single day

These proposals are the solutions we need to provide quality care for our patients. We've also made it clear that our hospital must remain competitive with Providence St. Peter's new contract. Our wage scale and contract need to be competitive with Providence. Anything less will only make staffing challenges worse.

We will be bargaining into the night on September 23 and 25. We asked that you show your support by:

• Wearing your union buttons and colors—make your solidarity visible

• Talk to your coworkers—make sure everyone knows what's at stake

• Be ready—if management drags their feet, we'll need to take action!

Bargaining Team: Bonnie Verellen, Dennis Verellen, Cindy Dixon

Questions or ready to get more involved? Contact our bargaining team or reach out to Kimberly Starkweather at (206) 436-6515.

This is our time. Our patients, our profession, our fight.

Saint Michael Medical Center RN - Bargaining Update

Bargaining Team: Kim Fraser, Pre-Op; Janice Brown, FBC; Meredith Francisco, Med Surg; Lindsey Gearllach, Obs; Tammy Olson, ICU

On Tuesday, August 19, our bargaining team met with management for our 17th joint bargaining session since April. In the morning, we were presented with a package proposal from the employer that unfortunately ties our efforts to establish break relief RNs for all shifts to dropping our proposed robust staffing ratios. We have not yet responded to this but feel we need to establish some solution to our staffing issues that goes beyond the basics of what the law requires.

In our previous bargaining session a few weeks ago, we made a large move and chose to move away from our proposal to get our bargaining unit on the Sound Variable Annuity Pension Trust and instead codify the employer match to our 401K in our contract. This also means accepting management's suggestion that RNs also have access to the alternative retirement plan provided by Common Spirit. We were frustrated this week that the counterproposal drafted by management to resolve this issue was vague and did not spell out the matching percentages they say they are willing to commit to.

Additionally, we continue to experience resistance from the employer on aspects of our proposals around workplace violence. Considering the rise in violence experienced in hospitals, and in particular the recent murder at Allenmore Hospital in Tacoma, we strongly believe that robust safety protocols are for the benefit of all of our coworkers, our patients, and the public in general. Yet this management responsibility continues to be viewed by the employer primarily through the lens of the cost of certain proposals. This raises the question for us: How much is our safety worth to Saint Michael Medical Center?

Please continue to share our community support letter on social media and sign it yourself if you haven't already: 

Community Letter of Support >>

We will return to the bargaining table on August 25 and have two more sessions scheduled in September.

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining Update – August 6 Session

On August 6, we met with Capital Medical Center management to exchange proposals on retirement plans, wages, meal periods, and health insurance.

Health Insurance

Over the past few years, health insurance premiums have risen sharply—especially for part-time nurses, who can pay more than $300 a month for coverage. We believe nurses should not bear these costly increases. Our proposal ensures:

• No premium costs for full-time and part-time nurses for "employee-only" coverage.

• No increases in premiums for the life of the contract.

Retirement Security

We also proposed locking in contribution levels for both the 401(k) and a defined pension plan. Under the pension plan, Capital would contribute a percentage of gross wages each month to a pension trust, providing vested participants with a guaranteed monthly benefit for life. Vesting requires five years of service with a participating employer. Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Pharmacy Techs, and Jefferson Healthcare RNs already benefit from this program. We believe retiring with dignity is essential—and a pension plan helps retain experienced nurses and attract new ones.

Wages

The employer has not yet responded to our retirement or health care proposals but is expected to do so at our next session on September 10. This past session, management proposed a 24-step wage scale similar to the scales at CMC Techs, Auburn RNs, and Mary Bridge RNs. Our bargaining team countered with a 30-step wage scale that eliminates "ghost" steps and shortens the progression. While we do not agree with their proposed annual increases, shortening the scale offers potential benefits for nurses' wage growth.

Looking Ahead

We are closely watching our union siblings' negotiations at Providence St. Peter, and our goal is to secure a contract that keeps us competitive with St. Peter and other Multicare hospitals in the South Puget Sound region.

Stay United

Until our next bargaining session, it's critical we show our unity and determination to win a competitive contract that improves staffing. Join us to pick up union swag:

Union Swag Pickup

August 12 (Tomorrow!)
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

August 29
6:30 AM - 7:30 AM & 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

For questions, reach out to your bargaining team or Union Rep, Kimberely Starkweather at 206-436-6515.

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining Update – Time to Step Up

Since late May, your RN bargaining team has been at the table fighting for real solutions to short staffing and unsafe conditions. We've put forward proposals that reflect your priorities—better staffing, competitive pay, and stronger protections. Instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue, management has dismissed our proposals and violated key parts of the contract we already have.

Contract Violations – Grievances Filed

We've filed grievances to address the Hospital's repeated violations of our current CBA:

• "Flex Time": Management is low censusing RNs, then expecting them to remain on-call without providing on-call pay. Article 7.6 is clear: RNs are not required to be on-call for all or part of a shift they were scheduled for and then low censused from. Changing start times or forcing nurses to wait by the phone—without compensation—is a contract violation.

• In-House Registry Pay: Under Article 12, nurses working in-house registry shifts beyond their FTE are owed 1.5x pay—no 40-hour condition applies. Management is withholding that pay and claiming they can revoke it at will. That's not how our contract works—and we're fighting back.

These issues all point to a pattern: Capital Medical wants more out of nurses—more flexibility, more hours, more patience—without paying more. That's unacceptable.

Capital Medical Center is expanding services and asking more of RNs every day, yet refusing to invest in staff. We've proposed:

• Double pay for all extra and vacant shifts

• Premium pay increases

• Competitive wage increases and removal of ghost steps

• Break relief RNs for every unit

• Safe staffing ratios and enforceable staffing language

• An additional holiday and expanded holiday pay for night shift nurses

• Increased PTO and EIB usage from day one

Capital Medical rejected these proposals—while claiming they want to compete with Providence St. Peter. If they're serious, they need to invest in nurses.

Instead, nurses are being told daily about how to take breaks on time—without enough staff to cover those breaks. We've been clear: no break relief RNs and short staffing = no missed and untimely breaks.

Nurses are stretched thin. Morale is low. And instead of investing in the workforce, Capital Medical is rejecting commonsense proposals.

What's Next

We are continuing to push management to take these issues seriously. Our next bargaining session is August 6 and our contract will expire September 30, 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact your bargaining team or Kimberly Starkweather, Union Rep (206) 436-6515.

Bargaining team: Dennis Verellen, ICU; Bonnie Verellen, L&D; Holly Bruckner, ED; Cindy Dixon, PCU

Providence St. Peter Hospital RN - Bargaining Update

On Wednesday July 23, & Thursday, July 24, our bargaining team representing the registered nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital met with management for our ninth and tenth sessions. We began the week with cautious optimism, as management indicated they would finally respond to our proposed Staffing Article, which we first presented on April 29. After months of silence on this critical issue, we were ready to engage in meaningful dialogue.

Unfortunately, the employer's response did not meet the urgency or seriousness of the staffing concerns we've raised throughout this bargain. Rather than offering meaningful improvements or new ideas, their proposal largely repackaged existing language already in our current contract, which outlines existing committees currently operating at our hospital.

Providence's response consisted of various revisions to the existing Nurse Practice and Staffing Committee Letter of Understanding (LOU)—a committee whose operation predates the 2022 Hospital Staffing Committee legislation. Management proposed separating some current contract language related to the Unit Based Council and Professional Governance workgroups into two distinct LOUs. These changes do little—if anything—to improve what we see as the structural causes of unsafe staffing, or give us any feedback on the staffing language our team put so much hard work and critical thinking into.

The lack of direct feedback on our Staffing Article, which would provide our team with the opportunity to appropriately consider and modify our proposal to aim for actionable solutions, prompted us to request this directly when we met with management later on July 24.

A summary of our union's latest Staffing Article:

• Staffing Ratios: Minimum RN-to-Patient ratios that must be maintained at all times, including during meal and rest breaks. The proposal includes flexibility to adjust the number of RN staff to exceed minimum staffing levels to account for acuity and intensity, consistent with the unit's staffing plan.

• Enforcement: When ratios are not satisfied, nurses will be paid a premium of $5.00/hr for that specific shift and unit.

  • The Employer will send a quarterly report to the union of total premiums paid under the above.

• Float Pool: The Employer will maintain a dedicated float pool equaling 5.0% of the total RN workforce at Providence St. Peter.

• Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan: When there are greater than 20 boarded patients in the ED, and greater than 20 patients in the ED waiting room for longer than one hour, the contingency staffing plan goes into effect. The employer will make all reasonable efforts to assign five additional RNs to patient care. This plan remains in place until both numbers fall below 20 for no less than a continuous hour.

• Break Relief Nurses: The Employer will post job openings for and make reasonable efforts to hire the equivalent of 13.0 FTE Break Relief nurses within 21 days of contract ratification. Break Relief nurses will assume patient care assignments for another RN so they may take an uninterrupted meal and/or rest break. Break Relief RNs will not have a patient care assignment of their own so they can appropriately cover the assignment. Furthermore, Break Relief RNs shall only be assigned to take patients that they have the appropriate qualifications and competencies to care for.

  • A "break buddy" model (or otherwise similar but differently titled system) will not be considered an appropriate substitute or replacement for staffing unencumbered break relief nurses.

Management's feedback on our Staffing Article suggested concerns that a few elements of our proposal—namely the minimum staffing ratios and Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan—might be too restrictive, implying that such standards could limit their flexibility to address staffing issues proactively, or to add nurses before the triggering conditions are met. Our team remains open to dialogue that ensures solutions are both safe and workable, and so we appreciate this dialogue. However, our stated goal is to set a standard for the minimums on safe staffing—and the capacity for management to act sooner if they see fit is written plainly in our Staffing Article's opening paragraph.

As a follow up to this discussion, we compiled a number of the studies, articles, and other resources we referenced while drafting our proposal and provided them to management in the hopes of substantiating the contents. These included Washington State Public Policy, which compares and contrasts different state hospital staffing plans; Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios from California State Law; staffing laws in effect in other nearby states; the American Nurses Association, who conclude that costs to individual hospitals can be higher when it is understaffed; and regional collective bargaining agreements which directly state minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

We look forward to continuing the conversation with management on solutions to staffing.

"We have a duty to advocate for our patients; we feel like once again, the responses we got from management come with no immediate action, no new concepts, and overall, just fell flat."

— Julia Douglas

"Our team put a lot of work and thoughtfulness into our approach to the staffing language proposal, and what we presented to Providence takes into consideration things we can do outside of the Hospital Staffing Committee—to be proactive while scheduling nurses ahead of time, but also having a plan of action when staffing reaches critical levels; like the Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan. If their concern is that this mechanism might go into effect too late, we wish they would incorporate that into their counter, rather than just reject it entirely..."

— Ashley McBride

"The lack of an appropriate number of staff to care for patients on other units impacts the entire hospital—even units that aren't themselves suffering from a staffing issue, and because then RNs are being floated."

— Andy Dusablon
 

Contact Action Team Meeting

August 7
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Virtual Meeting

Meeting ID: 858 1875 0093
Passcode: 3000

In-Person Location

Washington State Labor Council Building - Olympia

• 3rd Floor Conference Room

• 906 Columbia St SW #330, Olympia, WA 98501

• Front door code: 3413

Sign the Strike Pledge >>