After six months of tough negotiations and a powerful, newsworthy informational picket, our determination paid off — we’ve reached a tentative agreement! After seventeen hours of bargaining, we were finally able to reach a settlement agreement around 3am on Tuesday, October 7!
Read MoreWe have been bargaining for five months and have several tentative agreements, mostly for non-economic contract language. We continue to argue with Kaiser about competitive wages. Kaiser seems unconcerned that wages are not aligned with other local healthcare employers. They seem only interested in the positions that are hard to fill.
The Pro Tech Optical and the National Alliance agreements both expired last week. Management has continued to push back on our proposal to align all contract expiration dates across the country. Our local Pharmacy contract expires July 31, 2026.
This is a priority for all contracts and we will continue to fight!
Nationally, Kaiser has made no substantial movement and there are a number of outstanding issues that need to be resolved.
Some other bargaining units that fall under the Alliance National Agreement have taken strike authorization votes and have notified Kaiser that they are planning to strike on or around October 13. Since the local Pharmacy contract has not expired, we cannot strike at this time but there are things we can do.
We can voice our concerns to management in solidarity with our Alliance National partners whose contracts have expired.
We can work together and push back against Kaiser's refusal to acknowledge that wages need to be sustainable and staffing needs to be safe.
We can support our local contract fight by filling out the card being circulated. If you need a card contact your steward or Contract Specialist JJ Benson 425-306-1357.
It's time to turn up the volume on our message and our collective power.
We met with Fresenius management again on Friday to bargain over the wages and working conditions we need to be able to continue providing safe, high-quality care for our dialysis patients. We reached tentative agreements on language for Precepting and PCT IIIs, Discrimination & Harassment-Free Workplace, and Low Census Rotation. Management rejected our proposed improvements to PTO accruals and ESL usage. Fresenius continues to offer substandard wage increases and no contractual commitments to help address staffing and patient scheduling concerns. Union Techs say enough is enough.
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On Friday, October 3, our bargaining team met with management for our second day of negotiations on our first union contract.
We began our second bargaining day putting the finishing touches on what we would later present to the employer as the final few new proposals we expect to make towards our union contract. These primarily consist of the economic sections, some of which we have highlighted below:
Scheduling: A proposal to memorialize existing practices when it comes to our work schedules, particularly our day-to-day flexibility.
Caseloads: We proposed a framework to outline the appropriate day-to-day caseloads for each job classification and proposed earning an hourly premium when maximum caseloads are exceeded for a prolonged period of time.
Premiums: We proposed additional compensation if you hold specialty certifications, train or mentor new employees, are qualified to care for patients who are deaf/hard of hearing or require medically complex feeding, and more!
Health Insurance: Proposed that the employer pay more towards the cost of our health insurance premiums.
Continuing Education: We proposed to increase the amount of money available to employees for continuing education related expenses, as well as an increase to the paid education time we can utilize.
Wages and Placement on the Wage Scale: We proposed union wage scales which outline set increases for both continued years of experience and future cost-of-living adjustments. Furthermore, our bargaining team proposed a pathway for current employees to be placed onto these wage scales, incorporating credit for our relevant experience in our positions.
After presenting our initial proposals to the employer, they asked a couple of clarifying questions and went back to their caucus room to continue reviewing/discussing. Overall, our team were encouraged that the employer indicated that our proposals were thorough and straightforward. We are eager to get back to the bargaining table and remain hopeful that we will get responses to our proposals from the employer at our session scheduled for October 15.
Join our Contract Action Team Meeting to ask members of our bargaining team questions about our progress so far, and discuss next steps as first contract negotiations continue!
Bargaining Team: Lindsey Gilbert, Family Resource Coordinator; Ronda Duluoz, Infant Mental Health; Megan Rupert, Special Educator
"We're feeling great about the progress so far! Two sessions down, and all of our proposals are on the table!"
— Megan Rupert, Special Educato
On Wednesday, October 1, our union Professionals Bargaining Team met with Providence for our fourth (4) session of first contract negotiations. At the session prior to today (September 4) our team had officially gotten the last of our new proposals on the table- which means now our bargaining days would primarily consist of exchanging counterproposals back and forth with Providence- until we reach mutually agreed upon language (also known as tentative agreements)- & to date we have already reached more than thirty (30!) tentative agreements on individual contract articles.
Read MoreSince our first meetings five months ago, our bargaining team has worked to reach agreement on a strong contract. This week we reached tentative agreements on:
Establishment of a Joint Committee on Eyecare
Occasional Floating improvements
Establishment of a Joint Committee on Job Roles and Career Development
New language in Article 8 creating a True-Up process
Updated Experience language (addresses wage scale placement)
This is in addition to other tentative agreements reached previously including increases to premiums and differentials. We continue to work to ensure that Kaiser understands the extremely competitive wages offered by other employers in Washington.
Kaiser has made no substantial movement on raising wages at National Bargaining. This week we are continuing to fight for sustainable wages and also aligning contract expiration dates across all Alliance contracts.
It's time to raise our voices and let Kaiser know we are united in our collective power.
Both the local and the national contracts have expired. We are asking you and your coworkers to fill out a card letting us know what you can do to help. If you or a coworker needs a card, contact a steward or JJ Benson (425) 306-1357.
What can we do to help? Fill out a card and be ready for next steps.
Has our contract expired? Yes, both the local Pro Tech Optical and the National Alliance Agreement expired this week.
Is striking an option? Yes. Pro Tech Optical Union members can vote to authorize a strike. At this time no strike votes have been scheduled here.
If I check the box on the card saying I am willing to strike, is that a vote to strike? No. The card is to determine your interest in participating. You will be notified if and when a strike authorization vote is happening and have the opportunity to vote.
Are other Alliance Unions voting to authorize a strike? Yes, some Alliance Unions have already voted to authorize a strike, including a different union in Oregon, which represents union members in Vancouver, Washington.
Start the dialogue. Talk to your coworkers about the importance of standing together for our contract!
We have reached several tentative agreements with the hospital and have just a few open issues that we are trying to resolve.
Read MoreAfter three meetings with the Employer, we have made progress and moved forward with the non-economic aspects that will ensure an improved contract for everyone in SRH. It is also imperative to understand that the Employer continues trying to limit our access to the employees by making us the only union at SRH that needs to be “accompanied”—and refusing to allow us to bargain over changes to job descriptions.
Read MoreAfter two days of negotiations this week, our bargaining team is proud to announce that we’ve reached a tentative agreement with Planned Parenthood. We all knew that this contract renegotiation would be challenging, as we struggle in our health centers each day with the effects of the ongoing “defunding” efforts against Planned Parenthood.
Read MoreOur Bargaining Team met with the Employer on September 29 and 30. We have given the Employer our non-economic and economic proposals. The Employer responded to part of our non-economic proposals with several tentative agreements. We feel they heard us, and we are excited to return to the table on October 23 for their responses.
Read MoreOur Bargaining Committee has made a lot of progress on non-economic issues, including a big win reaching a tentative agreement on an article addressing Recovery Cafe member harassment of staff. While we are eager to continue bargaining with our Employer, we also want to make sure our coworkers know the aspects of our upcoming economic proposal.
Read MoreWe began bargaining for a new contract in late May, and after nearly five months of negotiations, we are proud to announce that we reached an agreement with Capital Medical. From the very start, our priority was clear: secure a contract that is competitive with Providence St. Peter and win some of the language that staff at other MultiCare hospitals already have.
Read MoreAfter nearly 11 hours at the bargaining table, we walked away without a deal. Capital Medical Center management continues to oppose some of our proposals on critical issues: safe staffing, fair wages, incentive and extra shift pay, meal and rest breaks, continuing education, PTO, FMLA, and health insurance.
Read MoreOver the past few sessions, our Capital Medical RN bargaining team has been working hard to move negotiations forward on a successor contract. While we have reached tentative agreements on many language items, we have not reached an agreement on a lot of economic pieces. In our most recent session on September 19, we put all our outstanding proposals on the table. These proposals are not minor details—they are critical to recruiting and retaining nurses at our hospital.
Let's be clear—our priorities aren't optional. Nurses need:
Better staffing solutions and manageable patient loads
Incentive pay for vacant shifts
Competitive wages and benefits that recruit and retain RNs
Improvements to report pay for on-call nurses
Increases to premiums
Respect for the work we do every single day
These proposals are the solutions we need to provide quality care for our patients. We've also made it clear that our hospital must remain competitive with Providence St. Peter's new contract. Our wage scale and contract need to be competitive with Providence. Anything less will only make staffing challenges worse.
We will be bargaining into the night on September 23 and 25. We asked that you show your support by:
Wearing your union buttons and colors—make your solidarity visible
Talk to your coworkers—make sure everyone knows what's at stake
Be ready—if management drags their feet, we'll need to take action!
Bargaining Team: Bonnie Verellen, Dennis Verellen, Cindy Dixon
Questions or ready to get more involved? Contact our bargaining team or reach out to Kimberly Starkweather at (206) 436-6515.
This is our time. Our patients, our profession, our fight.
Our team met with the Employer on September 16 & 17. We had some good discussions and gave them our economic proposal. We will be back at the table on October 1 & 2 where we are hoping to receive an economic response from the Employer and we will respond to their last non-economic proposal.
Read MoreWe will be holding an informational picket on Thursday, October 2, from 3:30pm to 5:00pm on the corner of Myhre Road and Ridgetop Blvd. We look forward to seeing our fellow RNs, friends, family, and community members on our informational picket line! Remember that children and friendly pets are welcomed!
Read MoreOn Thursday, September 18, following highly attended vote meetings at Providence St. Peter Hospital, we are proud to announce that we have overwhelmingly ratified our 2025 union contract!
Read MoreOn September 15, our bargaining team met with Recovery Cafe and made significant progress on our harassment language—including language protecting staff if a Recovery Cafe member harasses staff. We are moving through non-economics and plan to introduce economics at an upcoming session. This would include our vacation, healthcare and retirement benefits, wages, and other economic items.
We'll be discussing the next steps in our bargaining process, highlights of the economic proposal, and how we can win what we deserve at our membership meeting this Thursday at 7:00 PM.
We will hold our next contract membership meeting on September 18 at 7:00 PM.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your bargaining team or your union representative Allison Hanley at (206) 436-6586.
Yesterday (Wednesday, September 17) we held an all-day contract vote on Management’s “Best and Final” offer we were presented with in our last bargaining session on September 5. While we were able to win many improvements on premiums and contract language prior to September 5th, there are still significant unresolved issues. In its totality, the Hospital’s last proposal was not enough to improve staffing, so we recommended a NO vote.
Read MoreWith our 2nd meeting with the employer under our belts, we are excited to share some updates. On Friday September 12, we continued conversations around non-economics that included rights of union stewards, bulletin boards, union access to the premises, sub-contracting, and others. SRH listened to our concerns and agreed to many of our proposals, maybe with a tweak or two.
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.
