CommonSpirit St. Joseph Medical Center - Technical Unit Bargaining Update

CommonSpirit St. Joseph Medical Center Technical Unit
Bargaining Update

June 24

On Wednesday, June 24, our bargaining team met with CommonSpirit management for our fifth session of contract negotiations.

The conference room was very warm—nearly 80 degrees by the time we arrived at 8:30am—but our team was fired up even before the Employer’s counterproposals came later that morning. Given the recent unanimous strike vote and contract ratification by the Pharmacists at our hospital over the last two weeks, we spent our morning debriefing their negotiations, knowing their experience would give us insights into what we could expect at our own bargaining table.

Around 11am we received management’s “comprehensive” counterproposal. Comprehensive because technically it includes both economic and non-economic articles, but in quotations because there wasn’t much offered in the first place. Today’s proposals had so little movement that you would probably miss it if the Employer hadn’t read it to us:

• An increase of 0.25% from their last proposal toward wages in each year of our contract, totaling 2.25% across the board for all classifications.

• Rejection of any increase to premiums or differentials (lead pay, certification premium, preceptor pay, standby/on-call, and so on).

Beyond the Employer’s underwhelming offer on compensation, their proposal maintained some takeaways:

• A proposal to eliminate the 15% pay-in-lieu-of-benefits wage differential for workers who opt out of health and welfare benefits (Section 9.5).

• A proposal to modify the full- and part-time FTE definition as it applies to cost-sharing for health insurance premiums. This would result in workers currently considered full-time eventually paying a larger portion of monthly premiums (Section 12.1).

After receiving the proposal and moving to a conference room with a slightly lower temperature, our team continued strategizing around next steps and how to build power to win a strong contract. Ultimately, we decided it was best to return our own counterproposals at the start of our next bargaining session, rather than that afternoon. We suspect that many of the discussions we have at the table are being forgotten in the time between sessions. We look forward to returning to the bargaining table on July 16 and getting our own counterproposals to management first thing in the morning.

To get more information about ongoing negotiations and to discuss strategies to build power to win a strong union contract, join our next Contract Action Team meeting.

Contract Action Team Meeting

• Tuesday, July 14

• 5:30pm - 6:30pm

• Zoom Meeting

• Join Zoom Meeting >>

• Meeting ID: 860 5668 2841

• Passcode: 442907

If you haven’t already, sign our STRIKE PLEDGE CARD to show management we are ready to stand together:

Sign the Strike Pledge >>

And sign up to be an ACTION NETWORK LEAD to keep your coworkers informed and ready throughout bargaining:

Contract Action Network Sign-Up >>

Bargaining Team: Michelle Gilmore, Respiratory Therapist; Monica Dewitt, Pharmacy Tech; Vanessa Giles, Surgical Technologist; Chad Michels, Cardiovascular Technologist; Sissy Allison, Surgical Technologist

St. Joseph Medical Center Technical - CONTRACT RATIFIED!

On Tuesday May 2, members in the technical bargaining unit at St. Joseph Medical Center overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new collective bargaining agreement!

Our new contract includes some of the highest pay in the region, a completely revamped wage scale with no ghost steps, a historic $1.00/hr increase to standby pay, and much more. Other than our pay increases, which will go into effect no later than two pay periods after ratification, all provisions of our new contract are now in effect!

After contracts have been voted on and ratified by the membership, the process of review between the union and the employer begins. This is a process is to ensure all new changes are incorporated into the agreement. This can take time, but is necessary for accuracy, we will post the contract on our website as soon as the review process is finished. In the meantime, you can find a redlined version at ufcw3000.org!

St. Joseph Medical Center (Technical) - Tentative Agreement Reached - Vote Schedule

St. Joseph Medical Center (Technical)
Tentative Agreement Reached
Vote Scheduled

Our Union Bargaining Team is excited to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with the Employer on a new collective bargaining agreement!

The proposed agreement includes:

• A completely revamped wage scale with no ghost steps

• Historic wage increases for all job classifications

• Unprecedented $1.00/hr increase to standby pay

• Improved contract language on many important issues such as low census, preceptor, certification pay, grievances, discipline

• And much more!

More details, including copies of the entire proposed contract, will be available at the ratification vote:

Tuesday, May 2
8AM—10AM | 12PM—2PM | 4PM—6:30PM

St. Joseph Medical Center – Dining Room 3 (Cafeteria)
1717 S J St, Tacoma, WA 98405

Bargaining Team: Vanessa Giles (Surgical Tech), Kat Wood (Radiology Tech), Michelle Gilmore (Respiratory Therapist), Monica DeWitt (Pharmacy Tech), Sissy Allison (Surgical Tech)

VMFH St. Joseph Medical Center (Technical) - Bargaining Continues

VMFH St. Joseph Medical Center (Technical)
Bargaining Continues

Our Union Bargaining Team met with St. Joseph Medical Center Management again on March 2, 17, 24, 28 and 30 to continue negotiations for our successor contract.

We continue to make remarkable progress this bargaining cycle with many important issues resolved in record time. Tentative agreements include improved language on:

• Union Rep access to the medical center

• New hire orientation (NEO)

• Preceptor

• Discipline / personnel files

• Donning & doffing

• Layoff

• Low Census

• Shift differential

• Certification pay

• Bereavement leave

• Grievance

• Successorship

• And much more!

However, we have yet to reach an agreement on wages, healthcare, standby/call, and other differentials. Wages are the biggest hold up because we are working on designing an entirely new wage scale that eliminates ghost steps (years with a 0% increase) and enables members to get to the top of the wage scale earlier in their career.

While the Employer has agreed conceptually to our proposal, we remain apart on the scale cadence (increases between steps, how members progress up the scale). There are significant implications with the proposed changes to our wage scale and our Bargaining Team wants to thoughtfully review each proposal from the Employer to ensure that everyone will receive a fair market competitive wage increase.

While we hoped to have an agreement before contract expiration (April 1), the complexities of the proposed scale changes have caused necessary delays in the process. In the meantime, we have signed a contract extension agreement through the end of this month to ensure that all our contractual benefits and protections continue as we move forward with negotiations.

We also continued to discuss the concerning developments regarding the mass exodus of anesthesiologist and the impact on our members ability to work. Unfortunately, we have not received any firm answers from the Employer on how this issue will be resolved. Our Bargaining Team will continue challenging Management on this issue until we have the answers we need.

We are scheduled to meet with the Employer again tomorrow for a marathon session. It is possible that we’ll have a tentative agreement and subsequent vote after tomorrow, however, that will only happen if the offer on the table meets the needs of all bargaining unit members.

“We are fighting to ensure that EVERY member will receive a fair wage increase with our new contract!”

—St. Joseph Medical Center Bargaining Team: Vanessa Giles (Surgical Tech), Kat Wood (Radiology Tech), Michelle Gilmore (Respiratory Therapist), Monica DeWitt (Pharmacy Tech), Sissy Allison (Surgical Tech)

St. Joseph Medical Center Technical - Bargaining Continues

“Progress at the bargaining table has moved at unprecedented speed! However, important issues such as call/standby remain unresolved.”

Our Bargaining Team: Vanessa Giles (Surgical Tech), Kat Wood (Radiology Tech), Michelle Gilmore (Respiratory Therapist), Monica DeWitt (Pharmacy Tech), Sissy Allison (Surgical Tech)

Our Union Bargaining Team met with St. Joseph Medical Center management again on February 22, 23 and March 2 to continue negotiations for our successor contract.

Understanding the need for swift action to stay competitive, contract negotiations began earlier than ever before. The employer, in their own proposals, quickly demonstrated that they shared our Bargaining Team’s sense of urgency to make changes to help recruit and retain high quality staff.

That doesn’t mean that we can only focus on wages and overlook the other important issues we face for the sake of speed. The Bargaining Team has been working to address other issues such as low census, the overuse of travelers, posting of FTE’s where needed, our slow grievance process, and much more.

We have made significant progress on the above issues, which is why our Bargaining Team decided to give management our initial economic proposal on February 23. We crafted our proposal after conducting a comprehensive market analysis that included a review of competitors such as MultiCare Tacoma General, Providence St. Peters, UW Valley Medical Center, and Swedish Medical Center.

One of the major factors considered was MultiCare’s move to eliminate all ghost steps (years with 0% increases) during their last round of negotiations. This has made it difficult for St. Joseph Medical Center to recruit and retain staff when healthcare workers know they can move down the street and get paid higher, years earlier than under our current wage structure. Thankfully, the employer agreed with our Bargaining Team’s assessment and has agreed with our proposal to eliminate all ghost steps! However, management’s plan to eliminate ghost steps is different from the Union’s, so more time will be needed to reconcile our differences.

We have also been holding management accountable to the concerning exodus of Anesthesiologist, which are required for many departments to function. Our Bargaining Team has brought the issue up at EVERY bargaining session with management reassuring us that the issue is being handled and that there is nothing to worry about. However, we haven’t seen any substantive changes that indicate that the issue has been resolved, so we will continue to discuss this issue at the bargaining table until we are confident the hospital has a good plan to handle the matter.

Our Bargaining Team will meet with management again on March 17, 24, 28 and 30 with our contract scheduled to expire on April 1. Stay tuned for further updates as bargaining progresses.

St. Joseph Medical Center Technical - Cautiously Optimistic—Bargaining Continues

“As a team, we’re fighting for every bargaining unit member at the table. We’re very encouraged with our progress and look forward to back-to-back bargaining dates with Management this week.”

Our Bargaining Team: Vanessa Giles (Surgical Tech), Kat Wood (Radiology Tech), Michelle Gilmore (Respiratory Therapist), Monica DeWitt (Pharmacy Tech), Sissy Allison (Surgical Tech)

Our Union contract is scheduled to expire soon, giving us the opportunity to engage in contract negotiations with our employer for better wages and working conditions.

Our Bargaining Team began preparations last year and then met with the employer for the first time on January 5, much earlier than in previous years. At that session we provided the Employer with ALL our non-economic proposals. The team wanted to give the employer as much as possible upfront as to avoid any possible delay in our fight for a fair contract.

We then met with the Employer again on February 16 to receive their counter proposal. The team was pleasantly surprised by the Employers response, which included significant movement not usually shown in an initial response. In fact, we already have a tentative agreement on improvements to our low census process and are close to reaching agreements on other important issues.

The Employer’s proposal may be a signal that they are willing to work with the Union towards a mutually agreeable settlement without delay. However, we all must remain prepared to take action if the conditions at the bargaining table sour. While we are cautiously optimistic about our upcoming meetings with management, our Bargaining Team remains prepared to take action if necessary to win the contract that we deserve.

St. Joseph Medical Center - VOTE SCHEDULED - Tentative Agreement Reached

St. Joseph Medical Center - VOTE SCHEDULED
Tentative Agreement Reached

On Wednesday, December 7, after multiple long days of bargaining we were able to come to a tentative agreement. Because of our unity and actions, we were able to get some great wins including:

• A three-year contract with competitive wage increases that overall average 10.35% in year one for staff pharmacists

• New wage scale that eliminates ghost steps

• $2000 ratification bonus prorated by FTE for all pharmacists

• Preceptor pay of $1.00/hour starting the first pay period 120 days after ratification

• Health and safety language

• And other great wins!

The vote will be in-person and members will have the opportunity to speak to Bargaining Team members before casting their ballot. Please arrive during the posted vote times as we cannot allow members to enter the vote room outside of the advertised times:

Tuesday, December 20
7am-9:30am | 11am-1pm | 3pm-5pm | 6pm-8pm
Lagerquist C (ground level of the hospital)