Lourdes Clinics and Urgent Care Health RNs - Tentative Agreement Reached on a First Contract

Lourdes Clinics and Urgent Care Service and Technical

VOTE SCHEDULED
November 25, 2024
12:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Lourdes West Pasco Conference Room
7425 Wrigley Drive, Pasco, WA.

The Bargaining Team is recommending a YES vote.

Our bargaining team is encouraging all employees covered by this agreement to join them on November 25, 2024 any time between 12:00 AM and 7:00 PM in the Lourdes West Pasco Conference Room at 7425 Wrigley Drive, Pasco, WA. This is a great time to learn about the new contract, ask questions and vote. The new contract guarantees 2 wage increases each year of the contract, a competitive wage scale, additional paid time off, job security, grievance process, continuing education reimbursement, union security and much more.

We are excited, hopeful and confident the first contract will lay a strong foundation for an even stronger future. We believe equality and fairness has been achieved in this three-year contract. We now have a voice and a seat at the table to discuss wages, benefits and working conditions. WE CAN ONLY GO UP FROM HERE. Ask your bargaining team how to get involved.

Please reach out to your bargaining team or Union Representative Juanita Quezada at (509) 340-7407 with any questions or concerns.

Our Bargaining Team: Jennifer Medrano MA, Jose Munoz Lazo MA, Kaylene Kuhn, Radiological Technologist, Amy Brown LPN, Sandra Pineda MA.

“We came together as a group, asking for fairness and security. After many months of hard work, we have achieved it! The more unified we are, the stronger we become.” 

— Kaylene Kuhn

“Unity is strength...when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”

— Jose Munoz Lazo

“I love my Lourdes team, and no matter what position or role you play in this company, we are ALL VITAL employees. Looking forward to a better future for all with a YES vote on this initial (first) contract.”

 — Amy Brown 

Lourdes Clinics and Urgent Care Health RNs

VOTE SCHEDULED
November 25, 2024
7:30 AM and 10:00 AM
Lourdes West Pasco Conference Room
7425 Wrigley Drive, Pasco, WA

The Bargaining Team is recommending a YES vote.

Our bargaining team is encouraging all Nurses to join them on November 25, 2024 any time between 7:30 AM and 10:00 AM in the Lourdes West Pasco Conference Room at 7425 Wrigley Drive, Pasco, WA. This is a great time to learn about the new contract, ask questions and vote. The new contract guarantees 2 wage increases each year of the contract, a competitive wage scale, additional paid time off, job security, grievance process, continuing education reimbursement, union security and much more.

We are excited, hopeful and confident the first contract will lay a strong foundation for an even stronger future. We believe equality and fairness has been achieved in this three-year contract. We now have a voice and a seat at the table to discuss wages, benefits and working conditions. WE CAN ONLY GO UP FROM HERE. Ask your bargaining team how to get involved.

Please reach out to your bargaining team or Union Representative Juanita Quezada at (509) 340-7407 with any questions or concerns.

Our Bargaining Team: Kimberly Edwards, RN and Leilany Garcia, RN

WhidbeyHealth Service & Support - Ratification Vote Notice

After our last negotiation session with WhidbeyHealth, the Employer presented us with a Last, Best, and Final offer via email in response to our last counter-proposal on all outstanding issues. This means that a vote on what that offer is will be forthcoming on Thursday, August 1. Upon review of the proposal we are recommending a "Yes" vote to ratify the offer.

Some of the highlights include:

Wage parity: We secured agreement that WhidbeyHealth would recognize past experience for represented workers at 100%. After discussion over many sessions, the Employer recognized that we need our most senior workers moved up on the scales the soonest. Their proposal partially reflects this, but also phases in less senior folks sooner whose resulting wage step increase would be less of a financial impact to the Employer in the immediate future.

Market adjustments of wage scales: When the mid-cycle wage bargain happened in 2022 the result (as with the Professional and Technical contract) was that many people further up the scale received increases that put them ahead of what workers earn at competing hospitals. This also resulted in workers on the earlier steps of the wage scale earning less than what workers earn at competing hospitals. Thus, management concentrated on increases at the lower steps in this bargaining cycle.

Ratification bonuses: If we ratify the contract with a "Yes" vote by Thursday, August 1, we will receive ratification bonuses. These bonuses will be pro-rated by FTE; folks with the most years at WhidbeyHealth will receive the largest bonuses.

More: Improvements to the weekend premium, shift differentials, standby pay, certification pay, and lead pay.

We look forward to seeing you at the following times on Thursday, August 1, to discuss the offer and vote on it:

Main Hospital Coupeville HEC Room C
6:00 AM - 9:00 AM
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Clinic #1 - Oak Harbor - Cabot Break Room
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Clinic #2 - Oak Harbor - Goldie Conference Room
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Clinic - Freeland Break Room
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Clinic - Clinton Break Room
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Bargaining Team: Marilyn Faber, Patient Financial Service; Liz Latiff, Health Unit Coordinator

WhidbeyHealth Service and Support - Bargaining Begins!

On Monday, January 22, our Union Bargaining Team met with Management for our first joint session. We presented some non-economic proposals and also continued discussions about other proposals amongst ourselves in our own Union caucus.

In the coming weeks between now and our next joint session, we intend to develop more proposals (both non-economic and economic) in order to prepare to meet with Management again on February 22.

"Management was willing to hear our initial proposals and we had a productive day of negotiations. They also were open to hearing what we had to say about application and security of lead roles. We look forward to our next bargaining session."
— Marilyn Faber, Patient Financial Services.

Bargaining Team Member:Marilyn Faber, Patient Financial Services; Liz Latiff, Health Unit Coordinator

Forks Community Hospital (Technical and Service) - Wage increase vote

Forks Community Hospital Technical and Service
Wage Increase Vote

Management and the Union Bargaining Committee have met and discussed ongoing wage concerns and have reached a tentative agreement on a mid-cycle wage increase. For details of the wage offer drop into one of the vote meetings. This is a fully recommended tentative agreement.

Join your coworkers and vote on the new wage increase:

Monday, September 12
12pm - 3pm
4pm-7pm

Forks Community Hospital - Lee Merrick Conference Room
530 Bogachiel Way, Forks WA 98331

To vote you must be a union member in good standing.

For additional information reach out to a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep Brandan Zielinski @ 206-436-6603 or bzielinski@ufcw3000.org

If you did not receive this notice by email, update your contact information at: ufcw3000.org/update-your-information

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - Contract Ratified!

We are pleased to report that UFCW Local 21 members at Capital Medical Center overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract on February 25! As a reminder, your new contract includes:

• An average 16.50% wage increase,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• And so much more!

If you have any questions about your new contract, please reach out to a workplace steward or call Union Representative Ian Jacobson at (206) 436-6550. 

Kronos Overpayment

It has been brought to the Union’s attention that MultiCare is demanding repayment from employees who were overpaid during the Kronos outage. The employer’s demands are placing extreme hardship on our members and, accordingly, the Union has demanded to bargain with the employer regarding their repayment program. We are also considering other actions that may help mitigate the effect of this issue on UFCW Local 21 members. 

Stay tuned for updates as this issue continues to develop.    

Capital Medical Center Service Technical - Tentative Agreement Reached! Vote Scheduled

Full details of the offer will be available during our online vote meetings!

Thursday, February 24
9AM - 10AM
6PM - 7PM
https://zoom.us/join
Contact the Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will also be emailed out.

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Our Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with Management on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement for the Service & Technical unit at Capital Medical Center! We are excited to announce that this tentative agreement includes:

• Historic wage increases unlike we’ve ever seen at Capital, resulting in wage scales similar to Tacoma General Hospital,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• Changes to Paid Time Off (PTO) that would result in higher accrual rates for most employees,

• And so much more!

While we did agree to a lower Extended Illness Bank (EIB) accrual rate, we were able to push out that change until January 1, 2024. In exchange, we won other improvements to EIB & PTO such as removing the cap on EIB accruals (unlimited EIB bank), EIB cash out upon termination in good standing, donation of EIB to coworkers in need, ability to cash out twice as much PTO each year and, when cashing out PTO, employees will be paid 100% of it’s value instead of the current 90% rate.

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 Friday, February 25 from 6AM - 8PM. 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, go to: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

If you do not receive an email to vote on Friday, February 25, then please reach out to Union Representative Ian Jacobson 206-436-6550 to provide an updated email address no later than 5PM on the day of the vote.

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE

“We cannot have a deal unless the employer compensates us for the time worked without a raise since our contract was scheduled to expire in October.”

Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, and Maureen Ciglia

Your bargaining team met with management again on January 21 and 24 to continue negotiations for your successor contract.

We are disappointed to report that negotiations collapsed late into Monday night. While the union had made significant movement towards an agreement, the employer refused to make any meaningful changes to their proposal that would indicate that they were ready for a deal.

In fact, your bargaining team began our Monday bargaining session by informing the employer that we were ready to work into the night to reach an agreement. By mid-afternoon the employer stated that they didn’t feel that working into the night would be worth the effort, signaling that they did not care to reach a deal. Despite the management’s lack of enthusiasm, we continued discussions late into the evening. 

The major problem remains their proposed reduction of our Extended Illness Bank accruals and the removal of the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday. The union made proposals to mitigate the effects of such changes, however, we made clear that retro-pay back to scheduled expiration is the key to reaching a settlement on these issues. The employer responded with an insulting $275 ratification bonus instead of retro. MultiCare made explicitly clear to your bargaining team that they have no interest in paying employees at Capital Medical Center retro pay, even though they offered it to UFCW members at Tacoma General and Auburn Medical Center last year.

We did have informal talks about a higher ratification bonus, but it was nothing close to what we are owed for all the hours we’ve worked since our contract was originally scheduled to expire in October.

To make matters worse, the employer surprised your Bargaining Team by LOWERING their proposed across the board increase in the first year. Management’s excuse was that they needed to make such an adjustment to pay for other “improvements” they were offering since they had already exceeded their authority on the cost of our contract.

Your bargaining team felt strongly that we cannot accept an offer that cut our EIB accruals, removed a paid holiday, included a first year across the board increase that was lower than our last session, and included an insulting ratification bonus. 

We made clear to the employer that the Union’s movement towards the employer’s demands were not only contingent on retro-pay, but would also expire on Monday at 11:59PM. Since we failed to reach a deal, the union’s offer is now off the table and not available to the employer.   

We are working to enlist the assistance of a federal mediator, at which point we will schedule additional bargaining dates with management. 

Next Steps:

Stand up against MultiCare by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Representative to get “Keep your Hands off our PTO & EIB” stickers that you can wear in your workplace. 

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually February 2 @ 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center CAT Meeting

Wednesday, February 2 • 6:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

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

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - BREAKTHROUGH!

Your Bargaining Team met with management again on January 10 to continue negotiations for your successor contract.

We are excited to report that we’ve made significant process in negotiations with management having a sudden change of heart. At the end of our last session, management surprised us by making an economic proposal that ceded to a significant portion of the Union’s economic demands, which would bring Capital Medical Center employees up to market competitive wages. 

For the last few months your Bargaining Team has been showing MultiCare comprehensive data that shows that our wages are far behind what other hospitals are paying, justifying our proposals for large increases. Your Bargaining Team also expressed frustration that MultiCare has been willing to give employees at other facilities significant wage increases but not Capital Medical Center, as if we are not a priority to MultiCare. You also make this clear by wearing stickers in the workplace that informed patients that “MultiCare is Failing our community.”

They listened… but we’re not done yet.  

While historic wage increases are on the table, MultiCare is still proposing to cut your Extended Illness Bank accruals by about 40%. We warned management that if they want a deal anytime soon, their proposal must be withdrawn, or we will be forced to take further action. We know the community will not stand for MultiCare’s attack on healthcare workers EIB, especially in the middle of a pandemic, no matter the wage increases being offered.

We will meet with the employer again on Friday, January 21 and it is possible that we’ll have an agreement. However, this will be contingent on MultiCare withdrawing their EIB proposal. In the meantime, please continue to wear your union stickers at work and tell your manager what you think about their EIB proposal. 

“We’ve seen a breakthrough in negotiations, historic wage increases are suddenly on the table”

Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, and Maureen Ciglia

Next Steps:

Stand up against MultiCare by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Representative to get “Keep your Hands off our PTO & EIB” stickers that you can wear in your workplace. 

Tell your manager what you think about MultiCare’s proposal to cut your EIB accruals by about 40%.

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually January 19 @ 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center CAT Meeting
Wednesday, January 19 • 6:00PM

MultiCare Covington Medical Center Service & Technical & RN - Emergency Wage Increases—Vote Scheduled

We are pleased to announce that we’ve come to a tentative agreement with MultiCare on emergency wage increases for all UFCW Local 21 members at Covington Medical Center! The proposed increases would align our wages with the union contracts recently negotiated at Auburn Medical Center.

It is also important to note that this is considered a mid-cycle increase, meaning that it is occurring outside of normally scheduled contract negotiations. Therefore, we are still scheduled to renegotiate your contract later this year, which will be another opportunity to further increase wages and make other changes to your contract. 

However, the proposed wage increase must first be approved by a vote of membership before they can be implemented. We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Thursday, January 13 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 Thursday, January 13, then please reach out to Union Representative Kent Tse at ktse@ufcw21.org no later than 5PM on the day of the vote to provide an updated email address. 

Have Questions? 

There will be virtual meetings on the day of the vote to explain the details of the offer and answer any questions. Drop-in anytime during the scheduled meeting times.

Thursday, January 13

6AM – 8AM & 5PM – 7PM

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

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - BARGAINING UPDATE

Your bargaining team kicked off negotiations with management on September 17 and then continued on September 27 and October 13.

At this early stage in negotiations our proposals have primarily focused on non-economic items, with the hope that we can resolve the less-contentious issues before wages dominate the conversation. Our initial proposals addressed issues such as floating, discipline, Extended Illness Bank (EIB)/Paid Time Off (PTO) improvements, and more. 

In the meantime, your bargaining team has been working on a comprehensive market analysis of wages in the region, including other MultiCare facilities such as Tacoma General, as we prepare to make our initial wage proposal in the coming weeks. 

However, management surprised the team on October 13 by making a proposal to significantly change our healthcare premiums. Recognizing that employees at Capitol Medical Center are paying significantly more for healthcare than other MultiCare units, management proposed to align our premium costs to what employees are paying at other facilities. 

The proposed changes to premium rates would include significant savings, with many saving hundreds of dollars every month. In fact, the employee only option on the My Connected Care plan would have no premium, costing the employee absolutely nothing in premium costs! The only plan that would experience a slight increase in costs would be the High Deductible Plan (HDHP), and that is because a new Health Savings Account (HSA) benefit would be added to the plan with the employer contributing annually to the account. 

After extensively reviewing the proposal, your bargaining team has agreed to the changes, which will go into effect starting January 2022. All other details of your benefits plans will remain unchanged (deductibles, co-pays, out of pocket maximums, etc.). The agreed upon changes will be reflected during open enrollment next month, with the option to change your plan by November 30 for plan year 2022.

Changes in healthcare premiums will also apply to the Nurses’ contract, however, since they are not in open contract negotiations they will soon conduct a special membership vote to approve the changes. The technical/service unit will vote when we’ve reached a tentative agreement on the entire contract. 

Your bargaining team will meet with management again on October 20, 25 and November 1, 10, 17. We have signed an extension agreement to ensure all benefits and protections of our contract remain in place as we continue negotiations for a successor agreement. 

“We’re optimistic as MultiCare has taken a more collaborative approach to negotiations compared to our past employers.”

Our Bargaining Team: Adam Swigart, Julie Hinchcliff, Maureen Ciglia