UFCW 21 RNs at St Mary’s, St Peters and Centralia Reach Tentative Agreements early this morning

News Update: January 10, 2020 – 8:00 AM
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21: 206-604-3421

UFCW 21 RNs at St Mary’s, St Peters and Centralia Reach Tentative Agreements Early This Morning

This morning we are announcing that over the night, UFCW 21 RNs from St Mary’s in Walla Walla and then our RNs at St Peters from Olympia and Centralia all reached Tentative Agreements.

Just over one week ago 13,000 nurses and health care workers at UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW and WSNA were all prepared to begin the final 10-day countdown for a large-scale strike at Providence for patient care and safety. A January 2nd joint bargaining session with all three unions and the employer resulted in the first significant progress in months and that breakthrough led to the postponing of the strike notice. This week started with a Tentative Agreement (TA) being reached by RNs from WSNA at Sacred Heart. Within 24 hours UFCW 21 service and maintenance workers at Sacred Heart also reached a TA, followed another 24 hours later by TAs with service and maintenance workers at Holy Family and two more bargaining units (Professional and Technical workers) at Providence Medical Center in Everett.

These TAs represent advances for patient care and safety and improvement of workplace conditions and they have been made possible by the unity of SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW, WSNA and UFCW 21. These three unions represent over 13,000 health care workers and nurses at 13 facilities across the state in this current round of negotiations with Providence.

At the timing of this release, ongoing intensive negotiations are taking place today with SEIU healthcare 1199 NW and Providence and it is hoped that a tentative agreement will be reached there soon.

Holy Family Tentative Agreement Reached

News Update: January 9, 2020 – early AM
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21: 206-604-3421

Holy Family Tentative Agreement Reached

In a continuation of Tentative Agreements reached in the last 72 hours at Providence Hospitals, the UFCW 21 Service and Maintenance members at Holy Family reached a Tentative Agreement last night. Also yesterday, Tentative Agreements were reached at UFCW 21’s Sacred Heart Service and Maintenance unit, as well as two bargaining units (Professional and Technical) at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. These advances for patient care and safety and improvement of workplace conditions achieved so far have been the result of the unity of SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW, WSNA and UFCW 21. These three unions represent over 13,000 health care workers and nurses at 13 facilities across the state in this current round of negotiations.

Ongoing negotiations are taking place today with UFCW 21 RNs at Providence Hospitals of St Peters, Centralia and St Mary’s.

UPDATE – 2nd and 3rd Tentative Agreements of the Day Reached with UFCW 21 at Providence Everett Medical Center, other Tables Continue Talks

For Immediate Release: January 8, 2020 - 1:00 PM
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21 Cell: 206-604-3421

UPDATE – 2nd and 3rd Tentative Agreements of the Day Reached with UFCW 21 at Providence Everett Medical Center, other Tables Continue Talks

After months of contract negotiations, the UFCW 21 Professional and the Technical units at Providence Everett have both reached a fully recommended Tentative Agreement for new contracts. This resolution came within hours of the Tentative Agreement reached with UFCW 21’s Service and Maintenance workers at Sacred Heart in Spokane. These wins are a result of the strong unity between UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW and WSNA.

Negotiations with UFCW 21 service and maintenance workers at Holy Family have resumed today, and our RNs from Centralia and St Peter Hospitals are gathering to return to negotiations later today as well. Our RNs at St Mary’s in Walla Walla are planned to be in negotiations tomorrow.

Tentative Agreement Reached with UFCW 21 at Providence Sacred Heart, other Tables Continue Talks

For Immediate Release: January 8, 2020 -   9:30 AM
Contact: Tom Geiger, UFCW 21 Cell: 206-604-3421

Tentative Agreement Reached with UFCW 21 at Providence Sacred Heart, other Tables Continue Talks

After months of contract negotiations, the service and maintenance workers at Sacred Heart reached a fully recommended Tentative Agreement in the early morning hours on January 8th. This win was a result of the strong unity between UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW and WSNA.

Negotiations between UFCW 21 Pro and Tech members at Everett Medical Center have been ongoing over the night and into this morning. Additionally, UFCW 21 will go into another round of negotiations with Service and Maintenance workers at Holy Family in Spokane later today, and then our RNs from Centralia and St Peter Hospitals are gathering for returning to negotiations later today as well. Our RNs at St Mary’s in Walla Walla are planned to be in negotiations tomorrow.

Unity of Unions Leads to Tentative Agreement for WSNA – coalition continues push for Agreements at all Providence Hospitals

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, January 7, 2020

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW
UFCW 21
WSNA

Unity of Unions Leads to Tentative Agreement for WSNA – coalition continues push for Agreements at all Providence Hospitals

This morning the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) announced the reaching of a Tentative Agreement in contract negotiations with Providence at Sacred Heart in Spokane. Over 13,000 nurses and health care workers of our three unions have been in contract negotiations with Providence for months to protect patient care and safety. SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW, UFCW 21, and WSNA stand united for patient care and safety and our unity has made us strong. This was the key to reaching the Tentative Agreement at Sacred Heart with WSNA. Now we will continue our hard work and unity to ensure that every worker at Providence gets a fair contract that helps protect patient care and safety and improves the working conditions at all these Providence hospitals across Washington.

Progress in Negotiations Results in Postponement of Strike Date

(Jan. 3, 2020)

—After ongoing discussions, the three unions representing 13,000 health care workers at 13 Providence hospitals statewide have agreed to pause plans to announce a strike. The parties have made significant progress on key issues. The parties will go back to the table to continue bargaining their respective contracts. We are committed to working through outstanding shared interests regarding patient safety, workplace violence prevention, and recruitment and retention.

For many months, and in some cases more than a year, health care workers and nurses at Providence Hospitals across Washington have been in contract negotiations. Because of ongoing challenges and a lack of progress to protect patient care and safety, these workers passed strike authorization votes in October. Negotiations in November and December did not produce adequate progress. However, over the last 24 hours joint discussions with all three unions – UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW and WSNA – and Providence have resulted in the most significant progress to date. As a result of this progress, and the commitment to hold ongoing negotiations during the coming days, the unions have agreed to pause today’s filing of the 10-day notice of a strike.

Multicare - Winning in 2019

Providence Mt. Carmel - Bargaining Team Recommends "Vote No and Reject Management's Offer"

Contract Vote Cancelled

After lengthy negotiations with our union collegues throughout Washington state, Providence has agreed to withdrawal their short-term disability plan. Consequently, the plan to vote on January 7 and January 8 is cancelled until further notice.

The bargaining team is encouraged by management's changes at the table will bring a fair settlement at Mt. Carmel.

For questions, please contact your Union Representative Maureen Hatton at (509)340-7370.

Providence United Update - December 17, 2019

Coming Together for a Stronger Voice

On Monday 12/16, UFCW 21 members from Sacred Heart and Holy family were joined by UFCW 21 bargaining team members from Everett, Centralia, and St. Peter’s as well as leadership of UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, and WSNA. This is one example of how we are working even more closely since signing our new Unity commitment last week and pledging to work more closely for patient care and safety.

When thousands of nurses and health care workers all come together across our three unions we can improve patient care and safety. That is what we have been working to accomplish since Day 1 of bargaining. When a corporation has $11 billion in reserves, they have more than enough money to take care of patients and those of us who care for the patients every day.

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Unfair Labor Practice Charges Mount

UFCW 21 has increased our Unfair Labor Practice charges against Providence as a result of intimidation, surveillance, unlawful polling, threatening lockout if employees do not pledge to cross our picket lines, and their attempt to weaken our health plan without negotiating with us. All of this is illegal and we have filed our charges with the federal government. Similar unfair labor practice charges have been filed by WSNA and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW. 

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Advancing Our Efforts

UFCW 21 members at Providence held a live Telephone Town Hall last week and were able to answer questions from members on the strike planning.

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Governor Inslee calls on Providence CEO to bargain in good faith.

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Strike hotline and website to update and inform workers and patients: 

Hotline:
1-800-732-1188, ext 6550.

Website:

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Next Bargaining 

Tuesday 12/17
We go to into negotiations at St Mary’s in Walla Walla.
 



Providence United Update - Unity Commitment Announced for Patient Care and Safety by Three Unions at Providence - December 10, 2019

Unity Commitment Announced for Patient Care and Safety by Three Unions at Providence

After many months of taking action together, and also coordinating our unions and taking strike authorization votes, our unions’ leadership feels that now is the time to take the next steps in our campaign. We recently made an unity commitment to heighten our level of coordination and express our pledge to each other as we move ahead on our campaign for fair contracts. In a historic moment , UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and WSNA leadership have pledged to coordinate efforts that will move us all forward as healthcare workers and achieve the critical advances needed at Providence to provide better patient care and safety. 

The essence of our unity commitment is: If you take on one of us, you take on all of us.   

We are all negotiating with a massive employer that made $24 billion in revenue and has $11 billion in reserves. Providence is a single employer whose actions of putting profits before patients threatens the care and safety of our patients, our communities and our members. We recognize that we can push back against Providence most effectively when we work together as a team.
 
Thousands upon thousands of our members, in counties spanning the state, work for this employer that is a registered non-profit making billions in profit. Providence has refused to address concerns over patient care and safety. They have continued to make proposals that would take away tens of millions of dollars of member benefits that have been earned over decades. They have failed to offer compensation that would help recruit and retain high-quality staff in all our facilities.

Our members made their opinions clear in an unprecedented show of unity when they voted to authorize strikes for patient care and safety throughout the state of Washington. Now, we as the leaders of our three unions have taken the unprecedented step of entering into this unity commitment to guide and focus our coordinated efforts, so that we may more effectively negotiate with Providence and ultimately reach new contracts that protect workers and patients alike.

Providence United Update - December 6, 2019

Providence United Update 

Over 15,000 nurses and health care workers at Providence hospitals and clinics across Washington have voted to authorize a strike to protect patient care and safety. These workers are members of our three different unions: UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and WSNA. Our workplaces cover the state, Spokane to Seattle, from Centralia to Snohomish County, and we are all standing united as we negotiate new contracts that will allow for us to care for our patients, our families and ourselves. The strike votes that took place in late October were the very first time union health care workers from all our workplaces have voted to strike at the same time.
 
It has taken many, many months to get to this point in negotiations. While so-called nonprofit Providence cleared $24 billion in revenue and over $7 billion in profit in Washington, and has paid top executives millions, their lackluster proposals for our new contracts fail to adequately address safety, staffing and other workplace concerns raised by employees. At the same time, they continue to push to take away our hard-earned benefits, benefits that some workers have been earning for decades.
 
Problems in the Seattle area showcase how widespread the problems are: “I didn’t become a nurse to provide minimal care,” says Carol Lightle, a charge nurse in a Medical Oncology unit at Swedish Issaquah and member of SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW. “Every healthcare worker could tell you that, and all of us face the same issues. The short staffing is the same in Environmental Services, our coworkers who disinfect patient’s rooms; it’s the same in Materials Services where our coworkers resupply our units; it’s the same in nutrition services. We work together as a team to deliver patient care. And when a part of our team is short-staffed our patients feel it.”
 
Drive four hours east and you find the same problems. “As an Emergency Room Assistant at Sacred Heart, I see patients and their families in times of greatest need,” says Jose Hernandez of UFCW 21. “They are counting on Providence to provide the highest quality care, but too often Providence is putting profits first. I am ready to strike for my patients and ensure their health is always our top priority.”

Taking Action Together

We took our concerns to donors of a Providence supported charity on December 4. We raised our concerns about the way Providence is treating us. Members of UFCW 21, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW and WSNA all presented our wishes for the new year. “Sacred Heart has always been Spokane’s hospital. Our hospital. But we have been fighting for more than a year for safe staffing levels and benefits we have already earned,” says KT Raley-Jones, a cardiac intensive care nurse at Sacred Heart and nurse with WSNA. “While we have been at the table working to protect our patients and our community, Providence pocketed nearly $1 billion in profits in the first half of this year alone.”

We Wish Providence Would Put Patient Care and Safety Before Profits!

Providence Telephone Town Hall

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Telephone Town Hall.

Providence Bargaining Update

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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.

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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

Check out a recent column in The Olympian from UFCW 21 member Jacob Kostecka, RN at St. Peter Hospital where he said: “When care providers at Providence Hospitals across the state vote to strike, there must be serious problems. That simple fact is undeniable — regardless of how Providence tries to spin it…”

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

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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

• Coming together at Contract Action meetings to prepare for a strike – beginning process to set up strike headquarters in every area, and ensure a full group of picket captains signed up. Click here to sign up for picket captain training.

• 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.

• Share the map graphic (from our Facebook page or use it as your FB page cover photo) with all your friends and family to spread the word about our growing movement to build power for patient care and safety.

Providence Mt. Carmel & St. Joseph - Providence Continues to Propose Takeaways at Bargaining Tables Throughout Washington State

Providence - Ready to Strike for Patient Safety!

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.

Providence - Back to Bargaining

Providence - Our Community Has Our Back

Providence Update - Strike Authorization Vote

UNITED ACTION – STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE

**ALL VOTE TIMES EXTENDED TO 9PM**

Drop in anytime during the listed times. Members must be in good standing to vote.

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center – Spokane

October 24, 2019

UFCW 21 Office: 2805 N Market St. Spokane, WA 99207

Meeting Times: 6AM-9AM; 11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM

Providence Holy Family – Spokane

October 25, 2019

UFCW 21 Office: 2805 N Market St. Spokane, WA 99207

Meeting Times: 6AM-9AM; 11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM

Providence St. Mary’s – Walla Walla

October 25, 2019

Holiday Inn: 1433 W Pine St., Walla Walla, WA 99362

Meeting Times:11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM

Providence Centralia Hospital RN – Centralia

October 29, 2019

Peppermill Inn Meeting room:1233 Alder St. Centralia, WA 98531

Meeting Times: 6AM-9AM; 11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM

Providence Regional Medical Center – Everett 

October 29, 2019

Snohomish County Labor Council – Warren Rush Room:

2810 Lombard Ave Everett, WA 98201

Meeting Times: 6AM-9AM; 11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM

Providence St. Peter’s Hospital – Olympia

October 30, 2019

Doubletree – Olympia room:

415 Capital Way N Olympia, WA 98501

Meeting Times: 6AM-9AM; 11AM-4PM and 5PM-9PM