We worked hard to negotiate a contract that will benefit us all. We were able to secure improvements, including, wage increases, increases to our premiums, improvements to some non-economic terms, longevity and ratification bonus. Full details of the contract will be available at the vote.
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Thank you for recommending us to represent the nurses at Providence Regional Medical Center. We look forward to getting started early and approving language that benefits nurses and our patients.
"I am on the Bargaining Team again because I feel strongly about continuing the fight for a contract that we can be proud of."
— Stephanie Sausman
"I believe in the power of our voices to create change for the benefit of our families, our community, and our patients."
— Kimball Conlon
"I'm looking forward to representing all of our Providence nurses and also being an active advocate for our surgical services RNs."
— Carrie Rimel
"I am grateful to have been nominated by my fellow peers to help represent all nurses in obtaining a fair and equitable contract with our Employer. One that supports safe staffing for our patient's well-being and for them to get the care they need to be safe, not having to be provided by the rapid response team because they are declining while hospitalized."
— Tulena Lammers
"Looking forward to representing per diem RNs and fighting for safe staffing."
— Amanda Chinnick
"Nurses are the Union, UNITE!"
— Scott Ryan
"I believe in the power of our voices to make a difference for everybody. I'm committed to this process and believe we have a strong team."
— Terry Peirce
Not pictured: Juan Stout and Kristen Crowder
Reach out to our Bargaining Team or Union Rep Anthony Cantu at (206) 436-6566, if you have any questions, concerns, or you simply would like to discuss what's happening.
Yesterday, November 25, our union Bargaining Team representing the RNs, Service and Tech workers met with the Employer for the second time.
Read MoreOn October 17, a strong majority of RNs voted to ratify our new contract! After six months of negotiations, we now have a stronger agreement that improves wages, safety, and working conditions.
Read MoreRN 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.
October 24
12pm - 1pm
Cascade Room
In the cafeteria
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.
After six months of tough negotiations and a powerful, newsworthy informational picket, our determination paid off — we’ve reached a tentative agreement! After seventeen hours of bargaining, we were finally able to reach a settlement agreement around 3am on Tuesday, October 7!
Read MoreAfter nearly 11 hours at the bargaining table, we walked away without a deal. Capital Medical Center management continues to oppose some of our proposals on critical issues: safe staffing, fair wages, incentive and extra shift pay, meal and rest breaks, continuing education, PTO, FMLA, and health insurance.
Read MoreOver 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.
We will be holding an informational picket on Thursday, October 2, from 3:30pm to 5:00pm on the corner of Myhre Road and Ridgetop Blvd. We look forward to seeing our fellow RNs, friends, family, and community members on our informational picket line! Remember that children and friendly pets are welcomed!
Read MoreOn Thursday, September 18, following highly attended vote meetings at Providence St. Peter Hospital, we are proud to announce that we have overwhelmingly ratified our 2025 union contract!
Read MoreAfter more than six months of negotiations and uniting at our Hospital, our Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement and recommends a YES VOTE!
Read MoreOn Friday, September 5 our Bargaining Team met with Management to continue negotiations. We began at 9am and stayed until September 6 at 2:30am Unfortunately, in their last proposal that would resolve the remaining issues, we were given a “Best and Final” offer. We are recommending a “no” vote and moving forward with a contract vote and informational picket to highlight our issues and share our message with the community.
Read MoreOn August 25 and 26, our UFCW 3000 nurse bargaining team met with management to continue contract negotiations, bargaining late into the night for over 30 hours across both days.
Read MoreOn Monday, August 25, our RN Bargaining Team met with Hospital management to continue negotiations. We secured a tentative agreement that locks in the Hospital’s 401(k) contributions for the life of the contract—management cannot cut them. We also won new language granting RNs access to the Hospital’s cash balance retirement plan beginning January 2027.
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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:
We will return to the bargaining table on August 25 and have two more sessions scheduled in September.
On August 6, we met with Capital Medical Center management to exchange proposals on retirement plans, wages, meal periods, and 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
For questions, reach out to your bargaining team or Union Rep, Kimberely Starkweather at 206-436-6515.
The session began with management presenting a comprehensive counter-offer covering all outstanding proposals, finally giving us a full view of where they stand. While their offer lacked meaningful movement, it did create space for productive dialogue throughout the day.
Read MoreOur union bargaining committee, representing the registered nurses at Providence Centralia Hospital is proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement on our new contract! Vote meetings have been scheduled, and all PCH RNs are encouraged to attend!
Read MoreSince 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.
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.
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
We are the Union. The members of UFCW 3000 are over 50,000 members working in grocery, retail, health care, meat packing, cannabis, & other industries across Washington state, north-east Oregon, and northern Idaho. UFCW 3000 is a chartered member of UFCW International with over 1.4 million workers in North America.
To build a powerful Union that fights for economic, political and social justice in our workplaces and in our communities.
