UFCW 3000 Member Story: Colleen Balestreri
/By day, Colleen works in the Lab at Tacoma General as a Med Tech. Outside of work, she conquers Ironman competitions.
Read MoreOn September 15, a strong group of UFCW 3000 members marched into EvergreenHealth’s Board meeting to make sure their voices were heard.
On Wednesday, September 16, UFCW 3000 members in the St. Michael Medical Center Pro-Tech and Clinical Support unit voted UNANIMOUSLY to reject CommonSpirit’s offer, and overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike.
We are excited to announce that the 2026 nominations for the PCC Labor Management Advisory Committee (LMAC) will open on September 21, 2026. This is a great opportunity to nominate yourself or a coworker to help shape important decisions that impact PCC workers and our stores.
MultiCare continues to propose a wage scale placement process that could result in significant wage cuts for some members. Our Union Bargaining Team remains committed to fighting any proposal that moves workers backward.
Tuesday, September 8, was our most recent bargaining session with Broadcast management, following a successful flyer and button-up action at the cafe last Friday.
Our OMC Service Bargaining Team came to the table on September 4 prepared to have collaborative and productive discussions with management and we made meaningful progress.
Our Bargaining Team met with CommonSpirit management again on Thursday, September 3, to continue negotiations for a successor contract.
Unfortunately, the day did not end on a positive note. After more than five months since our contract’s original expiration date, our Bargaining Team has made the difficult decision to call for a Strike Authorization Vote.
On Wednesday, September 2, UFCW 3000 Children’s Therapy Center members voted with an OVERWHELMING MAJORITY to ratify our new two year collective bargaining agreement.
On Tuesday, September 1, UFCW 3000 Service & Dietary members at St. Michael Medical Center voted UNANIMOUSLY to ratify our new three-year collective bargaining agreement!
Our Bargaining Team is excited to have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract that will expire September 30, 2029. Our goals this bargaining cycle were to build on the wins from our last contract to address staffing and retention, meal and rest breaks, safety, and explore benefit improvements—all with the goal of retaining the highest skilled nurses to serve our community.
Our Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement on a new three year contract and recommends a yes vote!
After months of negotiating with Macy’s management, our Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement and recommends a YES vote to accept the proposal from Macy’s.
Now is your opportunity to vote and make your voice heard! The vote on this agreement is open to all active members of Macy’s Retail and Furniture Gallery contracts.
Last week, late Wednesday/early Thursday, we agreed to the terms for a new collective bargaining agreement with management. Our union Bargaining Team fought a persistent employer and we were able to put together a package that includes:
By day, Colleen works in the Lab at Tacoma General as a Med Tech. Outside of work, she conquers Ironman competitions.
Read MoreBillie Thomas stepped up to become a workplace leader at Tacoma General for this years MultiCare contract campaign. Find out what inspired him to do so and how he and his coworkers stood together for a historic contract.
Read MoreCheyenne Corneau had been working as a Medical Lab Technician for about a year in 2022 when her and her coworkers Colleen, and Marisa were talking about the need to get their coworkers involved in the union for better representation for lab techs at the next bargaining table.
Read MoreHealth care workers, faith leaders, labor unions, and community allies in Pierce County planned a car caravan around MultiCare-owned Tacoma General and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospitals today, in support of a fair contract for MultiCare’s essential workers. Workers who risked their lives to show up for patients during a yearlong global health crisis are now having to fight for pay that respects their work, for their own access to affordable health care, and for safe staffing in their hospitals and clinics. Workers have been bargaining since January with little movement from MultiCare in agreeing to fair wages and working conditions, and the Tacoma and Pierce County community is ready to step up and support their health care workers.
But before the caravan could begin, MultiCare sent a last-minute cease and desist letter to block it from taking place, saying they consider cars with signs to be unlawful picketing activity and threatening legal action if it continued.
We thank the Tacoma NAACP, Tacoma DSA, Union of American Physicians and Dentists, Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, Political Destiny, Unite Here Local 8, and SEIU 1199NW for joining us today and for committing to this fight for health care workers’ rights and for safe, quality patient care in Tacoma and Pierce County. MultiCare workers have taken care of our community through a traumatic year, and it’s time for MultiCare to take care of its workers.
Joined by community allies, UFCW 21 MultiCare members held an informational picket outside of Tacoma General Hospital to demand a fair contract.
Tacoma City Councilmember Anders Ibsen joins hardworking UFCW 21 MultiCare members in their informational picket outside of Tacoma General Hospital as they demand a fair contract on April 16, 2015.
MultiCare UFCW 21 health care members demand a fair contract as they walk the picket line at Tacoma General Hospital during their informational picket on April 16, 2015.
Community ally RJ Johnson of the Kent Black Action Comission joins UFCW 21 MultiCare Members during their April 16, 2015 informational picket.
MultiCare members take part in an informational picket outside of of tacoma general hospital on thursday april 16, 2015.
Our ability to have a fair contract that protects us and our patients is connected to having a fair process to join and stay in our union. Hear from two MultiCare workers (Heidi from Allenmore and Fran from Gig Harbor) talk about what having a union would mean to them. There are also some great quotes from Pam Milan (Covington) and Jose Moreno (Allenmore) about why this is so important for current members. Check out the newly released YouTube video:
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.
Jenny C., a transporter at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, knows what it looks like when management hopes a problem will just go away.
Jenny has watched the facility's transport elevators malfunction for more than a year, filing report after report after each incident she witnessed. Supervisors did not appear to take these complaints seriously.
Fresenius workers can see in Trevino’s story what solidarity looks like in action: Checking your check, speaking up when something's wrong, and stepping up to lead when your coworkers need you.