Providence Bargaining Update
/Patients Before Profits
Workers United and Prepared to Strike for Patient Care and Safety - Community Standing With Us
Providence Health Care workers from every part of the state, representing three different unions, UFCW 21, WSNA, and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, are united and have authorized a strike to stand up for our patients and for our communities.
While members of our union are standing up and voicing our concerns, Providence’s corporate management is trying to silence our voices and sent a letter that threatens to unilaterally change health care coverage. This is one of the reasons why when we call our strike it is planned to be an Unfair Labor Practices strike.
Members in the News
Some other news stories from across the state about last month’s strike authorization votes.
Sacred Heart nurses, workers voting to strike over 'unfair labor practices' - Spokane TV
Sacred Heart nurses, health care workers head to polls for strike votes - Spokane Newspaper
Providence Centralia Nurses Move Closer to Strike - Centralia Newspaper
Providence workers authorize a strike over wages, sick leave - Everett Newspaper
Elected officials, faith and social justice organizations, firefighters, educators and many others joined us for Listening Lunches in our cafeterias to hear directly what is happening in our workplaces. We then attended City Council Meetings and put elected members on notice that a strike would be a healthcare crisis for our communities.
Taking Action Together
Multiple TownHall Calls are being set up to ensure all questions are answered. Our first townhall will occur on Tuesday, November 26 at 3:30 p.m. – answer your phone when it rings and you can participate and ask questions live during our call as we discuss our campaign plan. Additional calls will be on December 5 and 13.
Providence - Ready to Strike for Patient Safety!
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Nurses and health care workers represented by the Washington State Nurses Association, UFCW 21 and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW at these Providence hospitals across Washington state are ready to strike for patient safety.
MEET WATSON
/Keeping Up and Fighting Back -Building Power in the Workplace
With all of the new technology we see around us, we need to be a part of the conversation about how it shapes our future in the workplace. We also need to use technology to help build power in our workplace.
We have created the UFCW 21 App as a powerful tool for leaders and members. The UFCW 21 App uses a robot called Watson that member leaders, union Reps and bargainers have trained to find answers to your questions based on your unique contract and new laws and policies that affect your workplace.
You ask a question, then Watson provides the answer to you. If Watson doesn’t know the right answer, it bumps it through to a person in our member support team, who’ll be able to help out and then train Watson to answer it next time. The more questions we ask Watson, the smarter it gets and the better it’s able to find the correct answers to questions.
We are continuing to get feedback and build the UFCW 21 App to help in the workplace. With this new technology, workers have access to the knowledge and information they need to be informed about bargaining agreements, company policies, and laws―regardless of whether they’ve just clocked off at 2am, or are about to walk into a meeting with management!
Do you know your rights?
/Christina Harris is a Bakery Clerk at the Lake City Fred Meyer. She shared her story with the Seattle City Council about the many times she was expected to stay late, occasionally pulled to other departments, and not compensated. When Seattle adopted Secure Scheduling, Christina believed that this behavior of unpredictable scheduling would end, but Management persisted. So she worked with her Union Representative, and together, along with many more Fred Meyer employees, they instigated an investigation with the Office of Labor Standards.
While the investigation of Fred Meyer is ongoing, hundreds of workers have received checks to compensate them for Fred Meyer’s violations of the Secure Scheduling ordinance. Christina got over $2,500 in earned income as a result of this action. As she stated to Councilmembers: “If labor standards exist but nobody is around to enforce them, do workers really have protections?”
We know the answer, and that is why we continue to not only advocate for policies that protect workers, but also to fully fund agencies created to enforce those rules. And with your help, we are able to alert those agencies, and ensure that your rights are protected, and that workers receive the pay they deserve when employers violate the law.
Secure Scheduling was adopted so that you can count on knowing when you need to be at work and when you are free to take care of your kids, help your parents get to medical appointments, or just enjoy free time. The law includes two-weeks’ notice for schedules to be released, and compensation when Management changes your schedule or asks you to work late or come in early. These are hard-won rights that bring stability to working people, and provide a disincentive for employers that want to under-schedule workplaces.
If you believe that Management at your worksite is breaking these rules, contact your Union Representative, and together we will work to ensure that your rights are protected. It’s your time, and you deserve to have your time protected.
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY ALLIES
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Contract fights can be challenging and isolating. We need the support of our vast and diverse membership, and also the communities where we live. When we get improvements in our jobs and working conditions, we raise the quality of life for ourselves, our families and our communities.
In July, Grocery Store Workers were not alone during their canvasses and informational pickets. Neighbors, church leaders, union leaders, social justice organizations, and many others turned out in solidarity, to add their voices and strength to the people who make their neighborhood grocery stores work everyday. The community allies remembered how these workers set out in snow and ice to ensure that the shelves were stocked and the stores were open through weeks of treacherous weather this past winter.
Community allies marched into the stores armed with ‘This Community Has My Back-One Good Job Should Be Enough’ buttons, taking selfies and letting members know that they were with them in the day to-day struggle for sustainable wages and livable scheduling.
Then community met with the store managers and presented their grocery list: Eggs, Kale, and La Croix were easy to find. However, there were more important items on their list that they couldn’t find in the store: Scheduling We Can Depend On… Wages We Can Live On… A Pension We Can Count On. They asked the managers to listen to the needs of their workers, because they are also the needs of the community.
Community members in Everett, Olympia, Centralia, Walla Walla and Spokane were disheartened when they heard about the looming strike with Providence hospital workers. Elected officials, faith groups and social justice groups have scheduled Community Lunchtime Listening Sessions in these hospitals to hear directly from health care workers about the critical issues causing them to vote for a strike.
The Providence health care workers will also be going to City Council meetings to talk to elected leaders about how Providence putting their profits before patients is a community crisis. Short staffing is one of the major concerns for Providence health care workers: “We need safe staffing levels to provide the highest quality of care for our patients.” Many local businesses and labor groups have shown their support by posting signs that say ‘Providence Hospital Workers Demand Patients Before Profits.’ At this time it is still unknown whether a strike will happen, but what we do know is the community is with us.
All of these actions, throughout Washington State, unite workers and their community. Together we advocate for good contracts now, and a future where all workers get what they need to thrive.
Grocery Store Workers Ratify New Contract
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When working people come together with each other and our community—we win. After more than six months of negotiations, UFCW 21, UFCW 367, and Teamsters 38 members turned out to vote and ratified a historic new contract.
Puget Sound Grocery Store Workers are proud of a contract that includes:
Strongest journey wage increases in UFCW 21’s history
Full back pay to expiration
A long-term solution to our pension with projected improvements
Health care benefits that are projected to be fully-funded, include benefit improvements and NO increases to premiums or deductibles
First scheduling overhaul in decades, giving us more control over our schedules
Strong safety language for the first time ever in our contract
A plan for the future of technology and workforce training
Won protections for our wage scales, so as minimum wage goes up, so do our wage steps.
NOT ONE SINGLE CUT OR TAKEAWAY!
Your work and solidarity made this happen. Thank you for your time, your action and standing united.
With our new contract in place, we know we have to continue to stand together to enforce our new contract and make our workplaces better. To be the first to get answers on your new contract download the UFCW 21 APP.
In Solidarity, YOUR GROCERY STORE BARGAINING TEAM
Amy Dayley Angell, QFC #891 (Ballard), Front End Checker, UFCW 21
Christina Harris, Fred Meyer - Lake City #179 (Grocery), Bakery Clerk, UFCW 21
Cliff Powers, Safeway #402 (Oak Harbor), Produce Clerk, UFCW 21
Denise Anderson, Safeway #1546 (Aberdeen), Meat Wrapper, UFCW 367
Eleanor Knight, Albertsons #4483 (Auburn), 4th PIC, UFCW 21
Irene Garcia, Fred Meyer - Auburn #19 (Retail), Home Clerk, UFCW 21
Jeannette Randall, Safeway #1923 (Roxbury), Front End Checker, UFCW 21
Jeff Smith, Fred Meyer - Snohomish #681 (Retail), Non-food receiving Clerk, UFCW 21
J'Nee DeLancey, Town & Country #211 (Ballard), Beer/Wine/Spirt Manager, UFCW 21
Joann Gardner, Albertsons #3106 (Puyallup), Personnel Coordinator/Bookkeeper, UFCW 367
Kyong Barry, Albertsons #4483 (S Auburn), Front End Manager, UFCW 21
Lisa Gasser, Fred Meyer #424 (South Hill), Bakery Clerk, UFCW 367
Maggie Breshears, Fred Meyer - Greenwood #122 (Grocery), Personal Shopper, UFCW 21
Maroot Nanakul, Safeway #464 (Bear Creek), Front End Manager, UFCW 21
Michaela Strain, QFC #819 (Bothell), Meat Wrapper, UFCW 21
Mike Sherman, Fred Meyer # 265 – Puyallup, Grocery Clerk, UFCW 367
Mike Solberg, Safeway # 547 (Graham), Grocery Clerk, UFCW 367
Paul Ames Reinhold, Metropolitan Market #157 (Uptown), Cheese Kiosk Clerk, UFCW 21
Richard Waits, Haggen #15 (Burlington), Deli Clerk, UFCW 21
Robin Hillistad, QFC #858 (N Seattle), HR Specialist/Bookkeeper, UFCW 21
Sam Dancy, QFC #825 (Westwood Village), Front End Supervisor, UFCW 21
Sue Wilmot, Safeway #1252 (Bainbridge Island), Front End Checker, UFCW 21
Wendy Garrett-Drake, Albertsons #469 (Mukilteo), Personnel Coordinator/Bookkeeper, Teamsters 38
Wil Peterson, Fred Meyer - Everett #95 (Grocery), CCK Checker, UFCW 21
Faye Guenther, President, UFCW 21
Steve Chandler, Principal Officer Teamsters 38
Joe Mizrahi, Secretary Treasurer, UFCW 21
Tammi Brady, Recording Secretary, Teamsters 38
Samantha Kantak, Executive Assistant, Teamsters 38
Kate Meckler, Trustee, UFCW 367
Angel Gonzalez, Deputy Trustee, UFCW 367
Jim McGuinness, Attorney, UFCW 21, Teamsters 38 and UFCW 367
