After months of bargaining, we are happy to announce that a vote on the RT Career Ladder has been scheduled. The full agreement will be available at the vote.
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Following our meetings this weekend, we are providing a concise update on the status of our career ladder and our next steps to ensure the hospital honors our ratified agreement. Despite our contract ratification in March, the hospital has not come to us with a proposal surrounding a career ladder for Respiratory Therapists. On December 4, leadership attempted to scrap the ladder entirely, in favor of a promotional process. This would have violated our original agreement, and we obtained approval to file a grievance for breach of agreement. At our next meeting on December 17, VP John Cadwalader said that management was still committed to creating a career ladder, but needed more time for "financial approval" without offering a firm commitment or timeline. While this shows a change of heart from the December 4 meeting, we have rejected this vague proposal—we expect a clear, actionable path for advancement from RT I to RT III.
We are holding the line and increasing pressure through the following actions:
Grievance: We are seeking approval to file a grievance for not sticking to the proposed plan and timeline.
Staff Petition: We are preparing a petition to demonstrate our collective call to action.
EEOC Research: If you have been affected and feel like you should file a complaint and need support, please email our Union Rep immediately.
Note on Compliance: We are currently seeking formal approval for all media, social media, and internal campaigns. This ensures we operate strictly within our collective bargaining agreement and hospital policy to protect our members while we escalate.
We need every voice to hold the hospital accountable. Please sign the petition!
Thank you to everyone who assisted with job descriptions and contributed ideas. We remain united in this fight!
As part of our recently ratified Union contract, our Union Bargaining Team negotiated a “true-up” meaning the Employer agreed to go back and review years of service at Seattle Children’s and credit members one step on the wage scale for every year of service as appropriate. It is intended to allow those whose previous wage step advancement was slowed down by the old requirement that 1,664 hours needed to be worked prior to the next increase to have past years of service based on anniversary date recognized. However, as part of this agreement Employees must request such a review within ninety days of ratification of the agreement.
Our contract was ratified on March 7.
To request a review, email your written request to:
LaborRelations@SeattleChildrens.org
...by no later than June 4, 2025.
Call Union Representative Christie Harris at (206) 436-6606 (landline) if you’d like to discuss further!
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
On Thursday, March 7 Seattle Children’s Technical Unit ratified our new Union contract by a majority of those who voted!
Read MoreAs noted in our update on February 25, our Union Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital Management on Monday, February 24 and reached a Tentative Agreement by late evening that day. We are strongly encouraging a “YES” vote on this offer.
Read MoreOur Union Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital Management on Monday, February 24 in our continuing quest to come to a comprehensive Tentative Agreement on all outstanding issues. While the day stretched into the evening, with both parties working hard to come to an agreement, we finally managed to get an offer we could fully recommend around 9pm.
Read MoreOn Friday February 14, we met with the employer to negotiate the best contract for every job classification in our bargaining unit no matter how big or small. We shared stories of other hospitals sending us their patients because our staff saves lives.
Read MoreOur Union Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital Management on Monday, February 3. Because the Employer needed more time to put together their second counterproposal on economics we began midday
Read MoreSeattle 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 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:
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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
On Monday, January 13 our Bargaining Team met with the Employer for the fourth time to continue negotiating a contract that values and respects our unique skill set and contributions to caring for our kids.
Read MoreOn Monday, December 30 our Bargaining Team met for the second time with the Employer to continue discussing important non-economic proposals. It is painstaking and time consuming work to ensure everyone's concerns are being addressed.
Read MoreOur Union Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital leadership and their chief negotiator this past Monday, December 16. The initial session was productive and moved rapidly.
Read MoreOn 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
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.
“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
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
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
Our team met with management on Tuesday (6/3) and continued to discuss non-economic issues such as layoff protections, seniority, temporary employees, low census and more. While there is still much to be done, we were pleased with the pace of negotiations and are hopeful that management will continue to display the same collaborative attitude we saw today.
Read MoreOn May 28 our Union Bargaining Team met with SCH Management for our initial bargaining session. We discussed times of future bargaining dates and exchanged some initial non-economic proposals that included potential changes to:
Read MoreWe 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.
