Capital Medical Center RN - Making Progress!

Over 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.

Recovery Cafe - Bargaining Update

On 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.

Planned Parenthood - Bargaining Moves Forward

Bargaining Team: Shantelle George, Sr MA Phlebotomy; Alison DeBoise, Insurance Biller 1; Charlie King, Union Rep; Nico Montanero, Negotiator; Mackenzie Weiland, Float Clinician; Michel Avery, Clinical Trainer 1

We exchanged economic proposals during our two recent bargaining sessions. Key decision makers from management were candid about the financial situation looking ahead. We had reservations on management's proposals, but we did get creative and come up with counterproposals that we believe help address management's financial concerns while still respecting our hard work. 2026 will be an unpredictable year, but we are working with management to add language to the contract that would help find alternatives to layoffs and health center closures. They proposed a two-year agreement in hopes that PP is in a better place financially in 2027.

Management is confident that health insurance premiums will be going up significantly next year and they proposed that both staff and employer share the cost of the increase and that staff take on the majority of that increase. We countered that management should take the bulk of that increase if not all of it. Management is also proposing staff accrue PTO and sick leave instead of the current preloading practice and we are pushing back.

Talks are still ongoing with management on creating more equitable access to training and advancement for staff. We're continuing discussions with management in hopes of making progress towards an agreement, and our next sessions are scheduled for September 29 and 30.