CHI St. Joseph VMFH CommonSpirit DSS Virtual Health - Contract Ratified! 

Our Virtual Health union bargaining team are overjoyed to announce that after a series of highly attended vote meetings on Monday, December 9, our 2024 contract has officially been ratified - with more than 98% of voters supporting the new Agreement!

Next Steps:

While we are awaiting our new wages to go into effect (the next full pay period), Division Support Services and UFCW will review and format the new contract, and once finalized, it will be made available online and distributed throughout the worksite!

Reach out to our Union Representative Aimee Oien if you have any questions about the contract, wages, or need representation.

Jefferson Healthcare RNs - BARGAINING UPDATE

On Monday December 2, we informed the hospital management team that we were sticking with our original proposal for strong wage increases, emphasizing that it is essential for Jefferson to provide wages that are both competitive and sustainable to meet the high cost of living. Our other proposals included increased Shift Differential, On-Call/Low Census Standby Pay, Weekend Differential, Charge Pay, Preceptor Pay as well as changes to Resource RN parameters and pay, PTO Maximum Accruals (specifically when PTO is denied and the nurse is close to reaching the maximum), and changes to PTO Cash out and Deferral options. We also responded on language regarding Holidays and Low Census Rotation.

We had an extensive discussion about scheduling. Although both teams have an interest in some self-scheduling practices, Management's initial proposal for scheduling was restrictive and unsustainable, particularly around weekend work. We expressed in great detail our concerns over this proposal. Management agreed to review their proposal and make revisions. We are currently working on a response to their revised proposal as well as our proposals for Healthcare and Pension and the Addendum for Surgical Services RNs.

Our previous proposals included adding per diems in the bargaining unit and we are continuing to talk to per diems about this to ensure we are representing their interests. Please seek out and encourage your per diem colleagues to fill out the Union Showing of Interest cards.

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday December 10.

For additional information contact Bargaining Team Members: Robin Bridge, Emily Bishop, Chris Beatty, Michelle Grimmer, or Union Representative Kimberly Starkweather (206) 436-6515.

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MultiCare Auburn Medical Center RN & Case Manager RN Accretion - BARGAINING UPDATE - November 13, 2024

On Wednesday, November 13 our Auburn Medical Center RN and Case Manager RN bargaining team met with MultiCare to continue negotiations on our contracts at our fifth session with management.

After three sessions without a response to our initial proposal to welcome the Case Manager RNs into our union, we were excited to see that at our previous session management came prepared with a proposal on their placement on a wage scale & how years of nursing experience would factor into their union rates of pay.

However, management's proposal introduced some new challenges—for instance, the proposed Case Manager wage scales they presented differed from the wage scale in the main union contract; and although the wage scale for Case Managers appeared higher than that in the nursing contract, management later clarified that this is because Case Manager RN's years of clinical nursing experience are not counted one-for-one when figuring out where we would be placed on the wage scale. Additionally, MultiCare proposed a new set of premiums specific to Case Managers, such as shift differentials and a weekend premium, but at rates lower than those in the nursing contract. We ultimately felt that these differing wage rates, premiums, and experience calculations were designed to create a division between Case Managers and the rest of the RN unit. In response, we presented counterproposals in the afternoon that would align Case Manager compensation with the main nursing contract—ensuring that experience is recognized consistently, that wages are aligned more with the RN wage scale, and also rejected the proposed lower premium rates.

"Despite what we feel are efforts to divide us, we feel more united than ever before!"

—Nicole Geff; Case Manager RN

Meanwhile for the RN contract, we also began our morning reviewing the latest set of proposals from management at our previous session. We are glad that in some areas of the contract we are making progress on getting to a final agreement with the employer, however many our highest priorities remain on the bargaining table as open issues for continued negotiation:

SAFETY:

  • Maintaining free on-site parking, and working to secure language around transportation safety for nurses who have vehicles broken-into or damaged in the on-site garage.

STAFFING:

  • Updating our contract language to reflect the new hospital staffing law in Washington State, and pushing for additional compensation for nurses who care for additional patients above what the hospital staffing plan permits.

WAGES:

  • After receiving management's initial wage proposal at our last session—we were disappointed to see that their offer only provided a three percent (3%) increase in the first year of our 2024 contract—which doesn't even compete with the wages that nurses are earning in a number of Pierce County MultiCare hospitals.

We know that it would take more than twice that percentage—around 7.00%—to get us up to market with many other MultiCare nurses—so we hope management come to our next bargaining date on November 21 with a serious proposal that pays nurses at Auburn Medical Center for the lifesaving care we provide every day.

"Hopefully MultiCare find the rest of the budget for their next wage proposal!"

—Cory Larsen; RN

CONTRACT ACTION MEETING

To learn more about our ongoing negotiations, and to team up with our union siblings in the Service Unit with SEIU, join your bargaining team for a UNITY BREAK:

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center Cafeteria
Wednesday, December 11
7:30AM – 8:30AM

 

MultiCare Capital Medical Center Service, Office, & Technical CONTRACT RATIFIED!

MultiCare Capital Medical Center Service, Office, & Technical CONTRACT RATIFIED!

After a series of highly attended vote meetings on Thursday, December 5, our Bargaining Team at MultiCare Capital Medical Center are thrilled to announce that our 2024 contract has been overwhelmingly supported by our Service, Office, & Technical union coworkers!

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CHI St. Joseph VMFH CommonSpirit DSS Virtual Health Tentative Agreement Reached!

CHI St. Joseph VMFH CommonSpirit DSS Virtual Health Tentative Agreement Reached!

On November 26, after just seven productive negotiation sessions, our bargaining team at Virtual Health is thrilled to announce that we have reached a fully recommended Tentative Agreement on our 2024 successor contract!

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St. Anne Hospital Professional & Technical VOTE SCHEDULED

St. Anne Hospital Professional & Technical VOTE SCHEDULED

The practice of “rounding” timecards at the seven-to-eight-minute mark is being eliminated, and we will instead be transitioning to “actual” timekeeping: where employees are paid to-the-minute. While we anticipate that this change will improve the overall accuracy of our timecards (& potentially increase the amount of compensable time-worked we are paid for overall), there are a few anticipated impacts this change may have, and therefore negotiated the below protections through our Union:

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MultiCare Auburn Medical Center Professionals TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED!

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center Professionals TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED!

The outcome of these negotiations is a historic first union contract that we believe sets a new standard for healthcare workers, and we feel that we have secured some of the strongest workplace protections, wages, and benefits we’ve ever seen in a new contract.

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MultiCare Capital Medical Center TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED!

MultiCare Capital Medical Center TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED!

With these priorities in mind, our team went to work—fighting to secure a strong, competitive contract for the Service, Office, and Technical workers at MultiCare Capital Medical Center. We believe the result is a contract that will stand the test of time and keep us competitive for years to come.

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Multicare Women's Center Clinics - Pre-Bargaining Update

On the morning of November 20, our Women's Center Clinics bargaining team met to finalize proposals to kick-off negotiations with MultiCare. Now that we have won our union election, we are eager to enter the existing Clinics Collective Bargaining Agreement with UFCW Local 3000!

In order to prepare, we spent time reviewing wages, PTO, and a number of the articles in the existing contract to make sure that we are coming to our first day of negotiations with MultiCare stronger than ever. The terms of our bargain will mainly focus on how we are compensated on the union pay scales, and how the existing provisions of the union contract will impact our wages, hours, and working conditions.

After our review of the existing contract- and making sure our specific proposals matched the work we do at the Women's Center clinics- we provided availability to management through January 2025. We look forward to hearing back & getting to the bargaining table to fully realize our position as union members!

Once dates are set, we will continue to keep our coworkers in the loop throughout the process with bargaining updates after each session with the Employer.

"We're looking forward to moving forward! We feel stronger than ever before after seeing how high our unit's support for unionizing was. I think we're just feeling energized by the position we're in!"

—Liam Hughes, Medical Assistant @ Women's Center Sunrise; Carol Krings, Medical Receptionist @ Women's Center Puyallup

PRMCE Endo Tech Online Vote on December 3!

PRMCE Endo Tech Online Vote on December 3!

We have reached an agreement with PRMCE regarding past experience recognition for Endoscopy Techs. All current employees will receive credit for their prior experience as Certified Medical Assistants effective the first full pay period following ratification of the Letter of Understanding and following the resume submission.

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Three Rivers Hospital - RN's Contract Ratified with a Unanimous YES Vote

Bargaining Team: Karen Hurley, Lynette Swezey, Belinda Denchfield

OUR WINS:

Across the board wage increases:

  • Effective November 1, 2024: 13% increase across the board

  • Effective November 1, 2025: 3.5% increase across the board

  • Effective November 1, 2026: 3.5% increase across the board

  • $5 NIGHT SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL

  • $3/hr Per diem RN premium

  • Longevity Steps reduced from 1872 to 1564 hours. Meaning nurses will move to the next step on the wage scale three hundred and eight (308) hours earlier.

  • Unscheduled Day of Work increased from time and one half to double time.

  • Among other increases in premiums.

"After being part of this process, I will never question the importance of being part of a Union or what our dues pay for. It was enlightening to see how valuable OUR UNION is."

— Karen Hurley, RN

To join our union contact Amy Radcliff (509) 340-7370 orjoin our union here >>