Petition: Restore Gender-Affirming Care at Seattle Children’s Hospital!

Seattle Children’s Hospital has halted gender-affirming care, abandoning its commitment to providing comprehensive, life-saving treatment. Denying this essential care—recognized and supported by all major medical organizations—will cause unnecessary pain and suffering for some of our most vulnerable patients.

We demand an immediate reversal of this decision. If administrators refuse, we are prepared to take further action. We are also calling on Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown to investigate the hospital for potential violations of state laws against gender discrimination.

Stand with your coworkers in defense of our patients, our profession, and our values. Add your name to the petition today.

Seattle Children's Hospital Tech - Bargaining Update

"Stand your ground with confidence, state your value, back it with facts, and seek mutual success"

—Tesfaldet Kidanemariam, Respiratory Therapist

On Monday, January 27 we met with the employer for the fifth time to continue negotiating a strong contract that respects our specialized skill set.

We continued our negotiations, advocating for competitive wages and working conditions to recruit and retain our expert staff. Our coworkers on the Bargaining Team spent much of our time justifying why we deserve to be well compensated for the work we do. We know that other area hospitals send our kids to Seattle Children's Hospital for excellence in pediatric care. We shared stories of misdiagnoses at other facilities. We spoke about how it often takes months—even a year or more for techs from adult facilities to acquire our unique technical skills that save pediatric lives.

Join us on Monday, February 3, at 4:00 PM for a virtual update on the latest news from the bargaining table:
Join Zoom Meeting >>

If you are unable to attend, call our Union Representative, Christie Harris for an individual meeting at (206) 436-6606; we're eager to hear from you!

Are you not receiving these updates in your email? Update your contact information here:
Update Contact Information >>

Our Bargaining Team (Left to Right): Adriana Ingwerson, Ultrasound Sonographer; Heidi Cuffee, Echo Sonographer; Jennifer Becker, Surgical Tech; Tesfaldet Kidanemariam, Respiratory Therapist; Robin Phare, Pharmacy Tech; Tarin Knight, END Tech

Seattle Children's Hospital Medical Assistants - Contract Ratified!

On Friday, August 9, our Tentative Agreement was ratified by an online vote with a unanimous "YES" to approve by all those who participated!

The terms of the new contract are now in effect, and the pay increases will be reflected retroactive to August 5. If there are any questions or concerns, you may contact our current Union Representative Christie Harris at (206) 436-6606.

We wish to thank all of our Medical Assistant coworkers for standing with us to win a great new contract!

Our Bargaining Team: Wendy Rivas, Joelyn Martin, Angelica Acevedo

Seattle Children’s Hospital Medical Assistants - Tentative Agreement Reached! Contract Vote Scheduled

On Tuesday, July 30, our Bargaining Team met with Management for our eighth round of negotiations and successfully reached a Tentative Agreement!

Our Bargaining Team is recommending a “YES” vote to approve this Tentative Agreement!

• Improvements to the contract include:

• Wage increases all three years of the contract that keep us competitive with other hospitals.

• One new wage step added at the top of the scale each year to benefit our most senior coworkers.

• Continuing Education leave and funding.

• An hourly premium for Certified Medical Assistants.

• An hourly premium for floating between clinics if short notice is given by the employer.

An online vote will be held so that UFCW Local 3000 members can approve the agreement—beginning at 12:00 PM on Thursday, August 8 through 5:00 PM on Friday, August 9. Please update your information if you are not sure UFCW Local 3000 has your current personal email address and other contact information.

Update Your Contact Info >>

“In this tentative agreement we made significant gains over the last contract, including getting certification pay and Continuing Education leave and funding” — Wendy Rivas

Our Bargaining Team: Wendy Rivas, Joelyn Martin, Angelica Acevedo

Seattle Children's Urgent Care MAs - Continued Movement by Management

We bargained again on Tuesday, July 16 and continued to make progress towards a final agreement. With most issues resolved, we primarily discussed wages, and continued to push for additional increases to ensure our wages remain competitive for the life of our new contract.

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for July 30.

"We are getting close to an agreement, but management still needs to close the gap on wages" — Joelyn Martin

Our Bargaining Team: Joelyn Martin, Angelica Acevedo Arreola, Wendy Rivas

Seattle Children's Urgent Care MAs - Incremental Progress

We bargained again on Tuesday and were able to pass multiple proposals to management on issues including wages, certification pay, continuing education, and holiday scheduling rules.

While we were somewhat disheartened that management's proposals showed only incremental improvements on wages, we were able to make further progress in other areas.

We will meet again on the 16th and expect management to provide us with a new economic proposal.

"Today was productive, and we look forward to focusing in on our top economic issues"

— Wendy Rivas

Our Bargaining Team: Joelyn Martin, Angelica Acevedo Arreola, Wendy Rivas

Seattle Children's Urgent Care MA - Management Gives Wage Response

We met with Seattle Children’s management again on Tuesday and received management's response to our initial wage proposals. Management’s proposal would not adequately address the disparity between our wages and those of ambulatory MAs at Children’s or other comparable facilities, so we responded with a counterproposal which we anticipate will result in further positive movement by management at our next session on July 9.

While there is much work remaining to ensure we win competitive wages in our next contract, management continued to display a willingness to engage with us on the issues that are important to us, and we made significant progress in other areas, such as:

• New hire orientations
• Clinic reassignment
• Wage scales and step advancement
• Bereavement
• Continuing Education

For more information on what we expect going forward and to ask questions, join us for an informational meeting via Zoom next Monday, July 8 at 10:00 AM.

Bargaining Team: Joelyn Martin, Angelica Acevedo Arreola, Wendy Rivas

Progress has been slow, but management is beginning to understand our concerns and we believe that progress will continue to be made at upcoming sessions.

Bargaining Team

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Madison Derksema

Madison Derksema, Pharmacy Tech at Seattle Children’s Hospital and UFCW 3000 Member!

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for another #MemberMonday story! This week’s spotlight is on Madison Derksema, who is a pharmacy tech at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Madison simply gets things done. Her coworkers agree: their department is a better place to work because of her efforts. Since starting her job in 2018, Madison has truly stepped up: first as a shop steward, then as a member of her department’s Contract Action Team (CAT), and most recently as a member of the contract negotiations team!

During contract negotiations, Madison pushed hard for two additional & specific pay differentials for her department. She also fought back against inequities in the advancement process, helped file grievances, advocated for COVID safety protocols, and is now working to streamline the vacation request process to include greater transparency. At the negotiations table, Madison always asked management the tough questions!

In addition to all of these fabulous accomplishments, she regularly informs her coworkers about their rights at work, benefits, and protections as union members. She also recently joined the Health Care Advisory Board (HCAB)! Beyond that, Madison is empowering her coworkers to come together to advocate for the solutions they need to make their workplace more fair and just for all.

Her leadership is making Seattle Children's Hospital an even better place for workers, patients, and our communities; Madison — thank you for all of your hard work!

Seattle Children's - Contract Ratified

We are excited to announce that UFCW 3000 members at Seattle Children’s Hospital overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new collective bargaining agreement!

This historic agreement includes unprecedented wage increases (retroactively paid back to January 31), a significant increase to the per diem wage differential, increases to several differentials, contractual language improvements for a more equitable workplace, and many other improvements.

If you have any questions about your new contract, please reach out to a workplace steward or Union Representative Christie Harris at (206) 436-6606.

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Tentative Agreement Reached

We are excited to announce that your bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with management on a new collective bargaining agreement for UFCW members at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Your bargaining team unanimously recommends a “YES” vote!

• The proposed changes to your contract include:

• Historic wage increases that lead the market and will help with staff retention and recruitment,

• FULL RETRO PAY back to January 31,

• Per Diem differential increased from 10% to 15%,

• Increases to several differentials including the night shift differential, 

• Juneteenth as a new paid holiday, 

• New Pharmacy Technician premiums when performing compounding or tech-check-tech assignments,

• New promotion language that ensures a fair process when moving to a level two or three position (with retroactive effect), 

• And so much more!

The full details of the offer will be made available during our online vote meetings on Monday, April 11.

Join Our Online Vote Meeting!

Monday, April 11

• 9:00AM – 11:00AM

• 7:00PM – 9:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

It’s extremely important that members attend the zoom meeting to get a full understanding of the employer’s offer and have your questions answered. However, voting will not take place at this meeting.

We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Tuesday, April 12 from 6:00AM to 8:00PM. You will be receiving an email from UFCW 21 via “SimplyVoting” with your unique login information. 

In order to vote, everyone needs to make sure their personal email is up to date in our records. If you did not receive this announcement via email, please visit ufcw21.org/update-your-information and update your information. If you do not receive an email to vote on Tuesday April 12, then please reach out to Union Representative Christie Harris *206-436-6606 to provide an updated email address. 

*Note: this is an office line and cannot receive text messages

Our SCH bargaining team: 

Matt Brabant - Respiratory Educator, Madison Derksema - Pharmacy Tech, Angela Ballard – Surgical Tech, Kellie Koenig – Ultrasound Tech, Ashley Strickland – Respiratory Transport, Tyler Schaffer – Anesthesia Tech, Tesfaldet Kidanemariam – Respiratory Therapist