LabCorp Negotiations Begin!

On Friday, June 16 our Union Bargaining Team met with Management to begin contract negotiations. We shared some our non-economic proposals addressing concerns about Safety, the Grievance Process, and Union access and orientation.

We also raised our collective concerns about Staffing, Wages, Sick Leave, and FMLA. We asked Management how they plan to address ongoing problems with underpaying and understaffing our worksites, and to take a proactive and collaborative approach to staff recruitment and retention. We shared our powerful stories to drive home how these serious and widespread issues are affecting us at work and at home. We look forward to hearing their responses and diving deeper into these issues and economics when we meet next. We’ll stand firm in our belief that UFCW LabCorp workers and patients deserve better, and together, we’ll fight to win a fair contract!

GET INVOLVED!

June 27 at 6:30PM - 7:30PM on Zoom!

“Join us next Tuesday for our Contract Action Team Meeting to discuss specifics about the challenges we’re facing at the table and how we can stand together to win the best contract possible. We will also be sharing info on how to apply for short-term disability and FMLA!” —Nancy Pyanowski, Dispatch

GOT BUTTONS? Show THEM!

Share a pic of you or your coworkers wearing UFCW 3000 lanyards and buttons on SLACK or Facebook.

Questions or concerns? Reach out to our Bargaining Team or Union Rep, Christie Harris at 206-436-6606.

Covington Medical Center - Historic tentative agreement reached

MultiCare Covington Hospital
HISTORIC TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED

We worked hard to get some great improvements to our contract, but we couldn’t get everything we wanted this go around. We won new historic wages with the largest first year increases we have ever seen – making us the highest paid in the MultiCare system. We are proud to recommend a YES vote!

After months of bargaining, we finally reached a tentative agreement and fought hard to get a contract that works for all. As a result, we won historic language and wage increases!

» Historic wages that can help recruit and retain qualified staff

» New wage scales and job classifications

» Filled in all ghost steps

» Low census limits for RNs

» Staffing accountability language

» And other great wins!

PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VOTING TIMES SO YOU CAN VOTE ON OUR NEW CONTRACT!

If you have questions, please reach out to a Bargaining Team member OR call Union Rep Ian Jacobson @ 206-436-6550.

WhidbeyHealth Medical Center - We deserve a fair contract

WhidbeyHealth Medical Center
We deserve a fair contract

We are at the tail end of non-economics but have a few items not tentatively agreed upon. We are still holding strong to 14 days-notice to submit a resignation, but WhidbeyHealth disagrees and wants a fulfillment of 21 days-notice.

We also continued to propose our non-discrimination language that included timelines to ensure that with a complaint, our voices are heard and an investigation is started. WhidbeyHealth has told us they are not interested in responding to non-discrimination language within a 30 day timeline. They told us that their final offer was to have no timeline for a response. All we are asking from WhidbeyHealth is to ensure their employees can find out if their discrimination concerns are being heard and investigated. If there are discrimination issues at work, shouldn’t we be confident that the Employer is looking into those complaints within 30 days?

Show solidarity with our co-workers to let WhidbeyHealth know that WE WANT A FAIR CONTRACT AND WE WANT IT NOW!

We were supposed to be bargaining the week of June 26, but WhidbeyHealth has canceled our bargaining date for that week. We will be passing out stickers to wear the week of the June 26.

WhidbeyHealth Bargaining Team:
Jennifer MacNeill, Lab; Rosalie Nguyen, Pharmacy

Northwest Center Progress Made in West Seattle

“Thank you to everyone who shared the Community Letter and has been participating in solidarity actions! This type of unity will help us continue to make progress and win a contract we can be proud of.” — Our Union Bargaining Team

Last week our Union Bargaining Team met with NWC Leadership to discuss questions about the changes in service area boundaries and office closures. It was a deep dialogue- where they shared their commitment to having a structure in place for reassigning West Team providers and new referrals. We agreed that feedback will be elicited from all affected employees before any decisions are made.

NWC shared that they didn’t have a set plan already decided and committed to getting input from providers before making decisions on how to structure our teams and caseloads.

We negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines a timeline between now and August 18 for sharing information, gathering feedback, a work group process, and democratic voting on the plan moving forward.

Bargaining resumes on June 20 to negotiate over changes in Offices and continue conversations on remote work and caseloads, and on July 26 our Union Bargaining Team will present our Economic proposals.

Questions or to get more involved, contact your Bargaining Team Stewards or Union Representative Ian Jacobson at 206-436-6550.

Follow us on our social media to stay up to date with bargaining!

Facebook: Early Supports Uwnion | Twitter: @earlysupportsunion

EvergreenHealth Kirkland - Bargaining Continues

Join our bargaining Team as we plan out next moves:

Wednesday, June 14
5:30pm
EvergreenHealth Kirkland - Tan 100
To RSVP, go to: bit.ly/432v1ct

EvergreenHealth Kirkland
Bargaining Continues

Our Union Bargaining Team met with Management on June 9 to discuss the challenges of work we do. They listened to what we had to say, asked some questions, and had a few responses. However, they don’t seem to get it.

Management needs to understand why WAGES and STAFFING improves RETAINMENT and RECRUITMENT!

We have proposed many changes to our contract, including improvements to compensation.

What keeps Management from saying “YES”?

• Maintaining low overhead?

• More $ for Management?

• More $ for equipment or building improvements?

We understand they have a budget. Do they understanding the cost of living and working in Kirkland?

If we have to be on-call and live within a half hour of the hospital, where can we live and how much will it cost? The cost of living has gone up significantly in the past three years.

Does Evergreen understand this?

READY TO GET MORE INVOLVED? Join your union today and go to: join.ufcw.org/join/3000

QUESTIONS? Talk to a member of the Bargaining Team or call Union Representative Jack Crow @ 206-436-6614

Forks Community Hospital RNs - Tentative agreement reached!

After three bargaining sessions we have a reached a tentative agreement that includes:

• Across the board wage increases

• Two additional steps at the top of the wage scale

• Reduction of full-time status from 37 to 36 hours so that 0.9 FTEs do not have to use PTO to maintain full time healthcare benefits

• Increase in education instructor pay

Join your co-workers and vote on the new contract!

The Bargaining Team looks forward to seeing you at the vote to discuss this unanimously recommended tentative agreement.

Wednesday, June 21
9 am—12 pm |1 pm—4 pm
Hospital conference room across from the cafeteria

Bargaining Team (L—R): Lisa Huelsdonk, Darlene Rondeau, Amanda Craft, Carlyn Beebe (not pictured, Annie Crippen)

UFCW 3000 Member Story: August Silva

August SIlva

August Silva (she/they), is a Patient Access Center Representative and Shop Steward at Planned Parenthood Tacoma. As a trans woman, she has faced a lot of challenges at her previous jobs, many of them coming behind the boss’s door:

I knew I wanted to work for Planned Parenthood because when I started transitioning in the Fall of 2021 and I couldn't think of a place that'd be more accepting of trans people like me than the place I get my hormone replacement care. My previous employer felt like I was taking "too much time off for frankly unnecessary office visits" and I applied the very next day! I love working with transgender patients.

August completed her first steward training this spring, and sees her work at Planned Parenthood and organizing her coworkers as being two sides of the same coin:

I want to do whatever sort of work I can for employees and patients to make sure there are equitable practices for everyone within the organization, and I think being a part of UFCW [3000] gives me the safety to be a voice for transgender employees in states that aren't unionized.

Outside of work, August enjoys listening to Jazz and helping provide mutual aid to unhoused people with Serve The People Tacoma. August is a great example of solidarity in action.

MultiCare - Covington Hospital - Headed closer towards an agreement

We met with the Employer on June 5 to resolve the handful of remaining issues that we have not agreed upon. While we made significant progress on all of our language proposals, and are extremely close on an agreement around wages, Management’s proposal to merge the Covington Clinic with Covington Hospital has proven to be complicated.

We have our next bargaining session on Tuesday, June 13, where we will dig into these issues with the proposed merger and evaluate if it is in the best interest of members.

“At long last, management recognized the need for limits around low census.”

– Poonam Gil, Surgery RN, Bargaining Team

“We are encouraged by the movement today and look forward to finalizing a good contract, hopefully on the 13th.”

– Ken Farrell, MedSurg RN, Bargaining Team

Tri-Cities Community Health - Tentative Agreement Reached on a First Contract for Tri-Cities Community Health RN—the Bargaining Team Is Recommending a “YES” Vote!

Our Bargaining Team: Hilda Torres, Sophia Rubalcava, Karen Engel

Our bargaining team is encouraging all RNs to join them on June 21, 2023 any time between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm in the Administration Building conference room at W. 800 Court St. 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, annual merit bonuses, a competitive wage scale, job security, Grievance process, Continuing Education reimbursement, Union Security and much more.

Vote Meeting Scheduled

• Wednesday, June 21, 2023

• Drop-in between 10:30 am to 1:30 pm

• Administration Building Conference Room

• W. 800 Court St. Pasco WA

UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to attend a meeting, ask questions, and vote on the contract. Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Representative for any questions.

We are excited and optimistic about this first contract, which will lay a strong foundation for the future of nurses at TCCH. A fair contract doesn’t just grant us parity, but also a seat at the table and a voice in the workplace. These are very exciting times ahead for all of us, 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.

Olympic Home Health - Contract Ratified

This week Union members at Olympic Medical Home Health overwhelming voted "YES" on a new Union contract which includes:

• 18.5% wage increases over three years

• 2%-26% market increases for most jobs

• $1500 Bonus 

• $4 per hour Weekend Differential 

• On-Call Pay increased to $75 per night

Congratulations to all!

For additional information, reach out to any Bargaining Team Member: Danielle Green, Joseph Bridge, Sandra Villam, Susan Montana OR Union Rep Aimee Oien @ 360-662-1981

If someone you know is not receiving emails, they can update information at: https://ufcw3000.org/update-your-information

Planned Parenthood - Bargaining Continues

Join your Contract Action Team for an update on negotiations via zoom:

Thursday, June 8 @ 7pm
Thursday June 15 @ 7pm

Contact a Bargaining Team member for meeting details OR call Union Rep Charlie King @ 206-436-6518

“Appointment access shouldn’t come before patient and staff safety”

– Michel Avery, Clinical Trainer

We went into bargaining hoping for movement from Management’s side, but instead were shown that Management is not interested in countering our language on items, with no counter to our non-discrimination language initially. We responded by stating that not responding to our non-discrimination language is unacceptable and we expect a counter on that language. At the end of the session, after stating that, “Planned Parenthood is already walking the walk on non-discrimination,” they countered with a limited response that we will be countering on. We were told our non-discrimination language was “over-kill” and redundant on Planned Parenthood policies, however we deserve to have strong non-discrimination language in our contract.

We proposed staffing language around understaffing and workloads of each unit, that included a step-by-step process with a timeline to allow staffing concerns to be addressed. Planned Parenthood has yet to respond but did respond to our Labor Management Committee proposal stating that they were not interested in having a timeline in which the Labor Management Committee respond to items discussed. Planned Parenthood wants the Labor Management Committee to be informal, however a Labor Management Committee is meant to address problems at the worksite by creating solutions. Without a timeline, how can we expect solutions?!

Our next bargaining date is scheduled for Thursday, June 29, where we expect to continue on non-economic items. We are hopeful to get to economic proposals, but that will only happen if Management responds to our proposals instead of just saying they are just interested in “current contract language”. We deserve a contract with strong language, as well as strong wage increases. Our Bargaining Team will continue to fight in solidarity for a great contract.

Labcorp Dynacare - We Are Prepared to Bargain!

LabCorp Bargaining Committee: Nancy Pyanowski, Matt Noll, Lisa Magee, Kyle Chrisman, Sam McVay, Shelby Tyner, and Deborah Gibby

Your Dynacare/LabCorp Bargaining Committee met this week to continue preparing for upcoming negotiations. We’ve been working hard on proposals to address departmental concerns, cost of living increases, issues with scheduling and staffing, winning good health care benefits, and raising wages for everyone. We’re confident in our strong position and are eager to meet management at the table for our first negotiating session on June 16. Get ready for an exciting win as we fight to secure the contract we all deserve! 

Speak Your Mind! 

We’re collecting stories to share about who we are and why we’re committed to improving our working conditions and continuing to provide vital, outstanding patient care. If you have a story you think management or our communities need to hear, reach out to your steward, your Union Representative, or a member of your Bargaining Committee. 

Please submit your story by next Monday, June 12! 

Keep in Touch! 

Keep up the Slack! Join our Union Slack channel, Lab Force 3000, for bargaining updates, office hours with your Rep, training and education resources, and more! 

See the email update for the link or talk to a Bargaining Committee member!

Update your contact information and make sure you’ve opted in to email and text communications!

Have questions? Contact your Union Representative Christie Harris (206) 436-6606 .

Ferry County Public Hospital Service & Maintenance LPN Bargaining Begins!

Our Union Bargaining Team members met with Management on June 1 and June 2 to begin negotiating our first contract.

“Negotiations are progressing well. Our team is keeping the best interests of all employees in the district in mind and are working hard to establish a fair and beneficial contract.” —Chris Torres, Lab

“It is an honor to sit with my fellow co-workers and Management to go through this process for the betterment of the staff and hospital. We have been working diligently on various issues and have made progress on many of those issues with the thought of our fellow co-workers at heart.” — Nykole Silrus, LPN

“We are off to a good start but have a long way to go in this process. The doors of communication are wide open and the conversations have been very productive.” —Rebecca Thompson, Unit Coordinator

Our next bargaining sessions are scheduled for June 22 and June 23. Please reach out to our Bargaining Team or our Union Representative Amy Radcliff at 509-340-7370 with any questions or concerns.

EvergreenHealth Kirkland - RSVP - Stand up for fair wages

YOU’RE INVITED!

Join our Bargaining Team to plan and prepare upcoming actions that will pressure Management into offering a serious wage proposal.

Wednesday, June 14 @ 5:30pm
EvergreenHealth Kirkland - Room Tan 100

To RSVP, scan or go to: bit.ly/432v1ct

We have told Management that they need to address wage disparities and staffing! After nearly two months of bargaining Management said,

“NO WAGE INCREASE THIS YEAR!”

It is time to show Management that Evergreen workers won’t stand for this disrespect and are ready to fight for a FAIR CONTRACT.

READY TO GET MORE INVOLVED? Join your union today and go to: join.ufcw.org/join/3000

QUESTIONS? Talk to a member of the Bargaining Team or call Union Rep Jack Crow @ 206-436-6614

Sunrise Dental CONTRACT RATIFIED

On Wednesday May 31 members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new union contract!

This contract includes:

• Wage increases for all employees,

• including those paid above the wage scale.

• $900 Bonus

• One additional personal day for a total of five days.

• Additional employer contribution to the 401K.

• NEW Meal and Rest Periods language.

• Extended time for Bereavement Leave.

Reach out to your Union Representative for additional information or if you want to get more involved.

PRMCE RNs - We have NOT reached a tentative agreement

Our last bargaining session with PRMCE was on May 11. Since that session we have not received a response from PRMCE for new bargaining dates. We are committed to continuing negotiations as soon as possible! Every day our staffing assignments get harder due to nurses resigning and hundreds of vacancies. Since the start of bargaining we have told the Hospital that we need to resolve this staffing crisis through competitive wages and better staffing language. The contract that our Union Bargaining Team proposed attempts to address retention and recruitment of nurses. We recognize the staffing issues we face at PRMCE need to be addressed with a comprehensive multi-action approach.

Below are a few of the proposals the RN team made in our last session. Some of these proposals the Hospital agreed to or proposed a lesser version of:

1. Hazard pay of $12 for emergent circumstances (like declared state of emergency)

2. Staffing: if a unit is staffed less than 90% of the unit’s staffing plan, the nurses on that unit will receive $5/hour premium

3. Break relief nurses for every unit

4. Internal equity: if a new employee is hired into a pay level greater than the  employee’s experience the entire pay range will be adjusted to reflect the placement of the new hire. Example: if the new hire should be on Step 4, but is placed on Step 8, Step 8 will become the new Step 4 and all nurses will have their wages increased to reflect the adjustment.

5. $3.00 Evening shift differential and $6.50 Night shift differential

6. For night shift nurses: after working on night shift for 24 months nurses would receive an additional $5.00 on top of the night shift differential. This is proposal is to recognize the longevity of night shift nurses.

7. $7 Standby pay

8. Increased premium for preceptors to $2.00 to train the nurses we desperately need.

9. Double time for standby on holidays

10. Added Veteran’s Day, Juneteenth, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to holiday list. PRMCE proposed cutting Presidents Day to allow Juneteenth.

11. Expanded holiday pay for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for night shift nurses. Consistent with other contracts in the area we proposed expanded hours for holiday pay on Christmas eve and Christmas day from 7pm on 12/23 to 7AM on 12/26.

12. $800 Standby Bonus for nurses who work more than 500 standby hours each calendar year, $1100 standby bonus for nurses who work more than 800 standby hours in a half year, $1250 for nurses who work more than 1100 standby hours in a half year.

13. Proposed improvements to health insurance by reducing out of pocket cost.

14. Allowing union rep into employee lounges and to remain member of staffing committee

15. 40 hours (pro-rated by FTE) for education hours and increased education money

16. Additional PTO to honor longevity of nurses over 15 years

17. Wages

• Step increments between steps would be an average of 2.5%. Currently the step increments vary between step

• Increase base to Swedish’s base rate of $42.22 on June 1, 2023. The new wage table would range from $42.22 (Base)  80.55 (Step 35)

• November 1, 2023 8.25% increase

• 2024 5% increase

• 2025 6.5% increase

To clarify, we do NOT have a tentative agreement. These proposals have not been fully agreed to by the Hospital! As you can see, there are some areas that we have some agreement on, but differ drastically on wages, staffing, and other contract language. We need Providence to come back to the bargaining table immediately! Nurses deserve better NOW!

Planned Parenthood - Bargaining Begins

Planned Parenthood
Bargaining Begins

“Hopefully Planned Parenthood still cares about their employees No Matter What.”

– Monalisa Bauman, Medical Assistant, Bargaining Team

Bargaining has kicked off with Planned Parenthood! On day one of bargaining, we talked about non-economics (language pieces that have no monetary value) and will get into economics (pay, benefits, etc.) in future bargaining sessions.

We discussed the following language:

• We proposed non-discrimination language, including ensuring the contract is gender neutral, access to all-gender bathrooms, respect for pronouns, chosen names on badges and emails.

• We proposed language that ensures you do not have to give 30 days’ notice of resignation, yet the Employer wants to only be able to give you 7 days’ notice of termination. We want to ensure all job positions have the same requirements for resigning or facing termination.

• The Employer proposed a one-year contract and cited that they are worried about funding through the election-cycle, but we are holding strong to a three-year agreement to ensure you are protected throughout the upcoming election cycle when Planned Parenthood is in the news even more and your safety and patient safety is at higher risk.

• The Employer proposed language in the contract stating if an emergency happens whether it be a natural disaster, pandemic or as they stated “Acts of God” that the contract would be suspended. We wholeheartedly REJECT that proposal. You deserve to be protected through all cases of emergency including the offensive language they proposed “Acts of God”.

Bargaining Team: Michel Avery, Alison Deboise, Melissa Grindstaff, Monalisa Bauman, Mollie Overby

MHS Covington Medical Center Bargaining Continues

After seven months of bargaining and mediation we finally met with Management in person. This really allowed us to have productive dialog regarding our proposals. We hope Management will now listen and take our concerns seriously.

Due to Management’s lack of respect and movement we were forced to bring a mediator into bargaining. She has been helpful in bringing us closer to a fair deal, but Management says we are still pretty far apart. If Management actually listened and respected the concerns of their workers we wouldn’t be so far apart. It is time for Management to Respect us, Pay us and Protect us!

In order to keep the hospital running well and efficient, people have to have joy in their work! That joy comes from the service we provide to patients. However, if our service is not valued or recognized by management the joy we get from our service to our patients dies out... in healthcare we can refer to it as burnout. What we are asking for is not a lot, if the hospital is small and not growing administrators should look at themselves - it doesn't fall on employees! If they want to retain staff then they need to value people, if they are in the process of growing they need to value the great staff they currently have, so that when the growth comes we all provide excellent care. It almost feels like we are begging for safety nets just to fulfill our FTEs. Management constantly low census us and many of us lose out on pay. The cost of living is way to high for people to not be able to meet their FTEs and get a full pay check. We have proposed language to limit Low Census and to help us secure our pay checks and Management continues to ignore our needs. It was great having dialog but its time for Management to take action and give us what we need! They say they want to recruit and retain workers but they don’t want to make the actions to make it happen. Wages are only one part of retention working conditions and the ability to work to make the wages are the other part of retention.

“Meeting in person allowed for a freer flow of bargaining ideas across the table. We still haven’t reached a deal but we had great discussion.” — Ken Ferrell

“Today we were able to express that union members are as valuable as nonunion workers and we are entitled to guaranteed FTEs and full paychecks just like travelers and system float!” — Faith Soriano-Miller

“Management said that float pool is the future of staffing, but we know Core staff are the present, future and backbone of staffing.” — Luz Martinez

Join us our Contract Action Team meeting via zoom!
Thursday, May 25 @ 1pm-2pm or 6pm-7pm

If you have any questions, please contact our Rep Ian Jacobson 206-436-6550.

EvergreenHealth Hospital - Fighting for changes in our workplace

EvergreenHealth Hospital
Fighting for changes in our workplace

We had four full days of bargaining and made countless proposals. Management finally responded to some of our proposals but were unwilling to accept many that are important to us:

• STAFFING: We proposed staffing language which would empower workers to collaboratively address the big staffing issues we face every day. Management failed to address the obvious need for a dialogue on this urgent issue.

• EQUITY: We proposed contract language that promoted equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. Management responded that they see no need to exceed the minimum protections required by law.

Our next bargaining date with Management is Wednesday, May 31. We anticipate Management will respond to our economic proposals at the next session.

We are ready to have an extensive conversation with them about what is important to workers at Evergreen.

For additional information, contact a Bargaining Team member or Union Rep Jack Crow @ 206-436-6614.

STAY IN THE LOOP! It is very important that your personal contact information is correct with your Union to be sure you receive updates on bargaining with your Employer, union benefits, bargaining surveys, as well as contract vote information.
https://ufcw3000.org/update-your-information