UFCW 3000 Member Story: Rebecca's Balancing Act

Rebecca Landers and her family

It's #MemberMonday and today's spotlight is on UFCW 3000 member Rebecca Landers!

Rebecca works as a nurse at Providence Mount Carmel in Colville, WA. She is very involved in her workplace, participating actively on both the Professional Practice and Leadership committee and the Staffing Operations Council. Rebecca is also a member of the FMC UBC.

Outside of her work in healthcare, Rebecca is a proud mother of two boys, Garrett and Corbin. Rebecca travels extensively with Corbin, who is on the 16U AA Hockey team for the CDA Hockey Academy. In fact, recently, his team won the Idaho State Championship and is headed to Troy, MI in April for the National Hockey Tournament! Meanwhile, Garrett has started his own botanical fish tank business and imports plants from Indonesia for resale. Both boys are succeeding academically as well and are both attending Head Start.

It is clear that Rebecca is doing a wonderful job of balancing being a mother, nurse, and a workplace leader! Members like Rebecca are amazing representatives and leaders of UFCW 3000. #UnionStrong

Lourdes Medical Center RN - Tentative Agreement Reached

After a marathon bargain session on March 1 we are pleased to announce that we have a fully recommended tentative agreement that consists of NO TAKEAWAYS.

Although we did not get everything that we were asking for, we did make huge progress is gaining ground to become more competitive in wages within our region. We were also able to improve some other areas within our contract.

Please join us in voting YES on this new three year agreement on Monday, March 21.

You must be present and a member in good standing to vote.

A full version of the contract will be available at the vote for your viewing and your team will be present to answer any questions you may have on the proposal.

Please reach out to your bargaining team or Union Representative Maureen Hatton at 509-340-7370 with any questions or concerns

Join your coworkers and vote on your new contract!

Monday, March 21
11 AM - 1 PM
5 PM - 8 PM
Carondelet Room (next to cafeteria)

Providence RadiantCare - Tentative agreement reached

On March 2, we reached an agreement with Providence Radiantcare! While it took other newly organized units within Providence over a year, it took our team only five months to reach a contract agreement. We were able to win annual increases, anniversary date increases, health benefit language, retirement plan language, and differential pay. The biggest win we were able to achieve was placement onto the wage scale dependent on your years of service in your classification. No other first contract within Providence currently has this placement language.

Our next step will be to hold a meeting over Zoom on Wednesday, March 16 to discuss the highlights of the agreement. We currently are working on securing a meeting space in Olympia to hold our in-person vote meeting and will be following up with another announcement with the vote location and date/time.

Welcome to UFCW 3000, Providence Radiantcare!

Questions? Join our online Contract Vote Meeting!
Wednesday, March 16
6-7 PM
https://zoom.us/join
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for Zoom meeting details. Details will also be sent to your email.

Join our first Telephone Town Hall call as UFCW 3000

Join our first Telephone Town Hall call as UFCW 3000, your union from work.

On Tuesday March 8th at 4pm. You will receive a phone call where you can jump right into the Town Hall Call. This is a great opportunity to get the updates on our new local - UFCW 3000, and ask questions with over 50,000 grocery store, health care, retail, food processing, cannabis, and other workers.

If for some reason you do not receive a call at 4pm on Tuesday, you can call in to join us by dialing: 888-652-0383 and enter meeting ID 6628. Make sure your personal contact information is up-to-date with our union UFCW 3000 >>

This merger brings together the #EssentialWorkers of UFCW 1439 across eastern Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho with the workers in grocery, healthcare, retail, cannabis, meat processing and many other industries represented by UFCW 21 across Washington State.

We are over 50,000 workers strong!

By joining forces, we are strengthening our ability to win better contracts and to organize more workplaces where workers want a union. Ultimately, this merger will help us build power with workers across many industries who do not yet have a voice.

As Shannon Corrick, who works at Cheney Safeway, says: "The corporations we work for are getting bigger all the time and they treated us very poorly during COVID. This merger makes us a much bigger union so we can take them on, and win better wages and safer workplaces."

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In the coming weeks and months we’ll be updating member resources to reflect our new name and improving our website to serve all members across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Grocery Store Worker Contract Negotiations update

Last month our worker-led union Bargaining Committee met together for the third time to continue finalizing our initial proposals to the Employer. Our Committee will meet again March 8.

Taking action together On February 28 grocery store workers from Washington to California participated in actions in front of our stores asking for customer and community support during our upcoming contract negotiations.

In our most recent round of Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings with workplace leaders we discussed how to get prepared for a potential strike

and what our employers may do. It is important that all members continue to sign our strike pledge cards in all our workplaces and update our contact information.

How you can help in the fight for a good contract:

• Make sure your personal contact information is up-to-date: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

• Join our next Contract Action Team meeting! Call your Union Rep or a workplace leader.

• Take a Shop Steward Training class open to all members who want to help build a strong union and know their rights. ufcw21.org/steward-training

On March 1 our union became UFCW 3000 after the merger with UFCW Locals 21 & 1439

Draper Valley Farms - Accelerated wage increases and increased shift differentials starting February 28!

Accelerated wage increases and increased shift differentials starting February 28!

The Company and Union have agreed to accelerating wage increases starting February 28. All union members shall receive a $1/hour increase (accelerating the full $0.75 increase that is to be paid starting April 1, 2022, and $0.25 of the increase that is not due until April 1, 2023).

Additionally, we were able to win a one dollar increase to shift differentials for Distribution and Processing plants! The new shift differentials will be $1.25/ swing shift and $1.35/ night shift.

These increases shall be effective February 28 and will appear on your March 11 paycheck.

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¡Aumentos salariales acelerados y mayores diferenciales de turno a partir del 28 de febrero!

La Compañía y el Sindicato han acordado acelerar los incrementos salariales a partir del 28 de febrero. Todos los empleados recibirán un aumento de $1/hora (acelerando el aumento total de $0.75 que se pagó a partir del 1 de abril del 2022, y $0.25 del aumento que no se adeudó hasta el 1 de abril de 2023).

Adicionalmente, ¡pudimos ganar un aumento de un dólar para cambiar diferenciales para plantas de distribución y procesamiento! Los nuevos diferenciales de turno serán $1.25/ turno swing y $1.35/turno nocturno.

Estos incrementos entrarán en vigencia el 28 de febrero y aparecerán en su sueldo del 11 de marzo.

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Union Members of Approve Historic Merger – Creating the new UFCW 3000

Union Members of UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 Vote to Approve Historic Merger – Building Power for Essential Workers and Creating the New UFCW 3000

In December, the Boards of Directors of UFCW 21 and UFCW 1439 voted to approve a merger agreement and to send this question of a merger to the overall membership. In January the members of UFCW 1439, who work largely in grocery stores, food processing and other industries in eastern Washington, northeast Oregon and northern Idaho, held their merger votes. Then in February, the membership of UFCW 21, made up of grocery and retail store workers in western Washington as well as health care workers and others all across the state, held their merger votes. The merger was approved by both memberships by at least 95%.
 
“Now that we are united, we have over 50,000 workers’ voices across the state coming together as one, we have more resources to win better contracts and enforce those contracts. We also have over $33 million in our Strike and Defense Fund and over 110 staff to bargain and enforce our contracts,” said Kyong Barry, a Front End Supervisor at Albertsons in South Auburn, and Derek Roybal, a Cardiac Cath-Lab Technologist at Providence Sacred Heart in Spokane. They are both leaders in UFCW 21.
 
Their enthusiasm was shared by Shannon Corrick, a UFCW 1439 member who works in the Cheney Safeway doing File Maintenance. She summed up the sentiment of many members when stating, “The corporations we work for are getting bigger all the time and they treated us very poorly during COVID. This merger makes us a much bigger union so we can take them on, and win better wages and safer workplaces. Get more control over our lives.”
 
Benefits of the merger include:

• Building power across industries like grocery stores, meatcutters, retail, healthcare, packing and processing, and others to help win better contracts, and organize more workplaces where workers want a union but don’t yet have one.

• Doubling the size of our collective membership in Eastern and Central Washington Counties.

• UFCW health care members and retail grocery store members acting together in counties in western Washington have already made great strides together – in places like Kitsap and Snohomish counties. The merger will expand that kind of solidarity to Spokane, Tri-Cities, Wenatchee and many other areas in the central and eastern parts of the state.

• The newly merged union will have an expanding Member Resource Center hotline where members can call to get quick answers to questions including on weekends and late-night hours. We will also have a new Member Education Department and invest in Workforce Development and Training.

• The newly created UFCW 3000 will be the largest UFCW local in the country.

The merger will go into effect on March 1, 2022.

St. Michael Medical Center RN - Cautious Optimism

“While we still have a long way to go, we are cautiously optimistic with the progress that was made today.”

Your Bargaining Team: Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson, and Janice Jones.

Your Bargaining Team met with management again on February 17, continuing contract negotiations for nurses at St. Michael Medical Center.

While we have yet to receive a comprehensive response to all our proposals, management seemed to have taken note of the Bargaining Team’s frustration at our last session. Noting that safety was clearly a major priority of the Union’s proposals, management made a counter proposal that focused on responses to our safety concerns. 

We were surprised by the amount of thought and consideration that went into crafting their proposal, with actual responses instead of the outright rejection we were expecting. For example, the employer’s response agreed to some of our demands such as:

• Enhanced training when preforming hazardous duties, 

• Language that ensures changes to the staffing matrix shall be voted on by the staffing committee,

• Withdrew their demands for more control over our committees,

• New language that will reduce the amount of committee meeting cancelations, 

• Employer paid training on conducting effective committee meetings.

We also reached a tentative agreement on rewriting our preceptor pay language, which has been notoriously hard to understand. Our new language makes it unmistakably clear when nurses shall qualify for preceptor pay, removing the loopholes and inconsistences that plague our current language. 

While we were pleased with the progress, it’s important to remember that we are very far from reaching an agreement on a new contract. Even with the progress we made today, the employer has still failed to address most of our safety and safety concerns. We also haven’t begun talks about wages and differentials, which we expect to be very contentious as we fight for significant increases. 

Your Bargaining Team invites you to join our official Facebook page to get the latest news regarding contract negotiations. We are scheduled to meet with the employer again on Thursday March 3 with dates scheduled through April.  

You’re Invited! 

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually Wednesday, March 9 @ 6:00PM

Wednesday, March 9

6:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

Emergency Department Meeting: Meeting focused on discussing the serious issues faced by nurses in the Emergency Department and working on solutions that can be achieved through contract negotiations.

Tuesday, March 15

6:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.

Capital Medical Center Technical Service - Contract Ratified!

We are pleased to report that UFCW Local 21 members at Capital Medical Center overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new contract on February 25! As a reminder, your new contract includes:

• An average 16.50% wage increase,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• And so much more!

If you have any questions about your new contract, please reach out to a workplace steward or call Union Representative Ian Jacobson at (206) 436-6550. 

Kronos Overpayment

It has been brought to the Union’s attention that MultiCare is demanding repayment from employees who were overpaid during the Kronos outage. The employer’s demands are placing extreme hardship on our members and, accordingly, the Union has demanded to bargain with the employer regarding their repayment program. We are also considering other actions that may help mitigate the effect of this issue on UFCW Local 21 members. 

Stay tuned for updates as this issue continues to develop.    

Seattle Children’s Hospital Technical - It’s time to set Management straight

“Management claims they want top of the market wages, however, the numbers do not match up with what they’ve proposed.”

- Kellie Koening, Ultrasound Tech

Our Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children's Management again on February 22 to continue negotiations for our next contract. While some progress wage made, we are still far apart and many issues, especially on wages.

During this session, the Employer presented an economic counteroffer than made negligible movement from their prior proposal. Management stated that they aim to have top of the market wages at Seattle Children’s, however, we do not believe their wage proposal achieves what they claim. This is especially true when considering that Swedish Medical Center, one of our largest competitors for labor, will receive additional wage increases in the coming months and will also be re-negotiating their union contract next year.

We are also disappointed that Management continues to reject our proposal to increase the Per Diem differential from 12% to 15%, which has become a market standard for Per Diems. As for the other differentials, not only has Management made very little movement on their proposal, but they admitted during our last session that they don’t believe that Employees at Seattle Children’s should be earning top of the market differentials and premiums.

Our Bargaining Team has built an economic proposal that would ensure that Seattle Children's remains competitive for the entire duration of our three-year contract. We believe that Management’s proposal fails to account for future wage increases in the market, setting Seattle Children’s up for more difficulties recruiting and retaining staff shortly after we ratify a contract.

In an attempt to distract you, Management sent out a communication last week regarding the contractually required process of the Employer sending Employee rosters to the Union, including social security numbers. This is a common practice that provides a unique identifier that enables easy identification of Employees, which helps avoid mistakes on union dues and other aspects of membership. In fact, the Employer has agreed to send social security numbers to the Union since at least 2004 without issue.

This is particularly helpful with new hires who may have come from another UFCW represented worksite and, therefore, can move their membership profile from their old Employer and avoid initiation fees. Accordingly, the Union has proposed that the Employer only send the full social security numbers of new hires and then only the last four digits going forward. As we await the Employer’s response to our proposal, remember that the Employer is using this tactic to distract you from the important issues such as your benefits, wages, and equity in the workplace.

While we hope to reach an agreement soon, we cannot accept a deal that fails to address our concerns, nor one that fails to ensure that our wages will be market competitive for duration of our contract. Our Bargaining Team is scheduled to with Management again on March 4 and 16.

Join your coworkers and hear from our Bargaining Team about negotiations!
Thursday, March 3
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for Zoom details. Details will also be sent to your email.

St. Michael Medical Center (RN) - Management is out of touch with reality

“Management has failed to seriously address any of our concerns, proving that serious action will be required to win a fair contract.”

-Bargaining Team: Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson, and Janice Jones.

Our Bargaining Team met with Management again on February 15, continuing contract negotiations for nurses at St. Michael Medical Center.

Management finally provided our Bargaining Team with a counter to most of our proposals, but it was not worth the wait. As you’ll see with some of our proposals below, the general theme of their proposal was “NO.”

• Union Proposal : Safe Staffing Standards
  Management Response: REJECT

• Union Proposal :Staffing Committee Improvements
  Management Response: REJECT, countered with more Management control over committees.

• Union Proposal :Financial Penalty for Cancelled Committee Meetings
  Management Response: REJECT, countered by offering to have a meeting about canceled meetings.

• Union Proposal :Instant Use of Extended Illness Bank (EIB)
  Management Response: REJECT

• Union Proposal: Low Census Standby Improvements
  Management Response: REJECT

• Union Proposal: Better Union Representative Access to Hospital
  Management Response: REJECT, countered with more restrictions to union access.

• Union Proposal: Charge Nurse Improvements
  Management Response: REJECT

• Union Proposal: Increased Per Diem Protection from Discipline
  Management Response: REJECT

• Union Proposal: 14 Day Resignation Notice
  Management Response: 28 Day Resignation Notice

Management’s response to our safe staffing standards proposal was “[we] reject staffing ratios in its entirety.” They even had the audacity to demand more authority over our staffing committee, which they have been working to undermine for years in an attempt to take our voices out of the conversation about safe staffing.

Your Bargaining Team was infuriated by their behavior, directly confronting management during joint session by declaring they are ignorant and completely out of touch with the reality. During this heated exchange, management followed up with their concerns that the Union seems to have looked at every corner of the contract and just tore it apart, nearly re-writing the contract.

They’re right! The status quo is not working, and radical change is necessary if we are going get St. Michael Medical Center out the crisis we’re facing today. We’ve combed through our contract and proposed many solutions to our problems. All we ask is that Management work with us to create a safer medical center for both nurses and our patients but apparently that’s too much ask. With that becoming increasingly clear, we’re going to have to explore alternative methods to force them to listen.

We are scheduled to meet with Management again on February 23 with additional dates scheduled through April. We hope Management will have responses to our other proposals ready when we meet again next week.

You’re Invited! Attend our next Contract Action Team (CAT) meeting to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure Mangement, and learn how to get your co-workers involved.

Wednesday, March 9
10 AM
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for Zoom meeting details.

Skagit Regional Health - Bargaining Team Confirmed

Thank you to everyone that participated in bargaining team nominations. We were able to assemble and confirm a diverse bargaining team that represents a variety of departments at Skagit! Your 2022 bargaining team is:

• Aaron St. John – Central Supply Tech

• Alina Delano – Ultrasound Tech

• Ashley Price – Medical Assistant

• Jill Douglass – Data Entry Clerk 

• Maria Muñoz – Environmental Aid

• Megan Osborn – Med Tech

• Mike Koenig – Engineer

• Paulette Chavez – Social Worker 

• Rindi Atkins – Rad Tech 

• Thomas Kean – Exercise Physiologist

• Gabriel Wilder – CNA

• Cindy Tjaden – Surgical Tech

You’re Invited! 

Join us for a virtual Contract Action Meeting on Wednesday, February 23 at 6:00 PM to discuss our priorities for the bargaining table and learn how the process works.

Skagit Regional Health CAT Meeting

Wednesday, February 23

6:00PM

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Central Co-Op - 7 or 11 cents an hour? Not till 2024?!

“Our Bargaining Team is continuing to push for what we deserve, but upper Management is giving us unfair proposals as we work tirelessly to make this Co-op a success.”

-Kate White, Deli Cook, Tacoma Store

Today, Central Co-op’s representatives delivered a package proposal on economics that didn’t include any new money until the third year of the contract, and these increases were only a meager $0.07 to $0.11 an hour. While the package did include improvements to jury duty, bereavement leave, the 401(k) plan, and PTO; it didn’t do anything to address wage inequity at the Tacoma store.

We bargain again on Wednesday, February 23 and are hoping to see improvements in the Co-op’s proposals. If they don’t show meaningful movement, then we will have plenty to discuss at our Direct Action meeting on Thursday, February 24 @ 10am.

Please join us and be ready to discuss taking action to escalate our campaign for a FAIR CONTRACT!
Thursday, February 24
10 AM
Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Rep for Zoom meeting details.

Providence Everett RN Pro Tech update Reduced ESBs means more staffing problems!

Providence Everett RN, Pro & Tech

Reduced ESBs will result in more staffing problems!

In January, Providence Everett Management proposed to reduce the February extra shift bonus (ESB) stating that the current bonus amounts are extremely costly which has resulted in going over budget. They also mentioned they want to align their ESB amounts to better match the lesser bonus amounts of other Providence hospitals.

We told Providence that we did not agree with their proposal and proposed we wait until mid-February to evaluate March bonus amounts for each unit. We believe reduced ESBs will result in less staff volunteering for extra shifts, which will increase caregivers’ workload and will lead to more burnout/resignations. If there is less staff, then there will be less caregivers to provide care. We are deeply concerned about the well-being of caregivers and the quality of care the community will receive if there is less staff.

We also asked Management on January 28 to provide information regarding vacancies, labor expenses on agency/travel staff, recruitment and retention plans, and monthly labor expenses since 2019. This information is needed to better understand their claims. We still have not received a response to our information request.

We are disappointed that Management has chosen to implement the reduced rates and will be asking them to reconsider their position for the sake of patient care and the well-being of UFCW 21 members.

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to your union representative, Anthony Cantu.

St. Michael Medical Center RN Bargaining Continues

St. Michael Medical Center RN Bargaining Continues

“Management showed they are out of touch by trying to increase our work instead of finding solutions on recruitment and retention.” -Anne Burns, RN

Our Bargaining Team: Anne Burns, Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson

Our Bargaining Team met with management again on February 8, continuing contract negotiations for nurses at St. Michael Medical Center. Our meeting was not very productive, with management failing to have a comprehensive response to our recent proposals, citing the need for additional research. The only proposal they had was a package, which offered an increase to the per diem premium so long as we agreed to larger work commitments for per diems in exchange.

Our bargaining team had already proposed an increase to the per diem premium in the hopes to recruit and retain employees, but adding more work commitments in exchange will only push more nurses to leave. We are not interested in their package proposal and intend to reject the change at our next session.

We are scheduled to meet with the employer again on February 15, which we hope will be more productive than our last meeting.

You’re Invited! March 9 @ 6:00PM

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually Wednesday, March 9 @ 6:00PM

Capital Medical Center Service Technical - Tentative Agreement Reached! Vote Scheduled

Full details of the offer will be available during our online vote meetings!

Thursday, February 24
9AM - 10AM
6PM - 7PM
https://zoom.us/join
Contact the Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will also be emailed out.

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Our Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with Management on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement for the Service & Technical unit at Capital Medical Center! We are excited to announce that this tentative agreement includes:

• Historic wage increases unlike we’ve ever seen at Capital, resulting in wage scales similar to Tacoma General Hospital,

• $1,750 ratification bonus, pro-rated by FTE,

• Per Diem differential increased to 15%, resulting in an extra 3% wage increase for all per diems,

• Increases to several differentials/premiums,

• Changes to Paid Time Off (PTO) that would result in higher accrual rates for most employees,

• And so much more!

While we did agree to a lower Extended Illness Bank (EIB) accrual rate, we were able to push out that change until January 1, 2024. In exchange, we won other improvements to EIB & PTO such as removing the cap on EIB accruals (unlimited EIB bank), EIB cash out upon termination in good standing, donation of EIB to coworkers in need, ability to cash out twice as much PTO each year and, when cashing out PTO, employees will be paid 100% of it’s value instead of the current 90% rate.

It’s extremely important that members attend the Zoom meeting to get a full understanding of the Employer’s offer and have your questions answered. However, voting will not take place at this meeting.

We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Friday, February 25 from 6AM - 8PM. You will be receiving an email from UFCW 21 via “SimplyVoting” with your unique login information.

In order to vote, everyone needs to make sure their personal email is up to date in our records. If you did not receive this announcement via email, go to: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

If you do not receive an email to vote on Friday, February 25, then please reach out to Union Representative Ian Jacobson 206-436-6550 to provide an updated email address no later than 5PM on the day of the vote.

Mason General Hospital RN - Vote Announcement

Mason General has proposed a financial incentive for per diem nurses to pick up short notice shifts. Since this is a modification of our contract, our members need to approve it.

For shifts that are picked up by a per diem nurse within 24 hours of the scheduled shift start, those shifts will be paid at double time (2x) as long as the per diem nurse has submitted their monthly availability in accordance with the contract and has worked at least four other shifts in the month the short notice shift is picked up. The incentive will be offered through August 31, 2022.

We will host an online informational session to review the full text of the amendment and answer any questions on Tuesday, February 15 @ 6pm.

Full details of the amendment will be available during the online vote on Wednesday, February 16 @ 6am - 6pm.

You will receive an email from UFCW 21 via “SimplyVoting” with your unique login information. All members in good standing are eligible to vote.

TO VOTE ONLINE, make sure your information is up to date! In order to vote on proposals, make sure your personal email is up to date in our records. If you did not receive this announcement via email, please update your email at: ufcw21.org/update-your-information

If you do not receive an email to vote on Wednesday, February 16, please reach out to Union Representative Ian Jacobson at ijacobson@ufcw21.org or 206-436-6550 to provide an updated email address.

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Management Needs a Reality Check

Yesterday, on February 8, 2022, our team meet with management for our seventh joint bargaining session. We provided management with comprehensive counters on almost every open issue at the table, including our remaining economic proposals. Since management took most of the day to form a response to our economics, we were initially hopefully that they would come back to us with a reasonable counter. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case at all. 

Management provided an economic counter that was very similar to their initial proposal and was nowhere close to what we had put across the table. The wages they are proposing (which they have claimed “meet the market”) are still way too low. On top of this they rejected virtually every one of the other proposals we made on economics, which included:

• Increases to our Preceptor Pay, Call Back Pay, Certification Pay, Lead Pay, Standby Pay, Weekend Differentials, and Evening differentials 

• Increases retirement plan matching funds

• The removal of all “ghost steps” on our wage matrix

• A sizable retention bonus that would be offered to everyone

• An erasure of all “debt” related to negative sick bank balances acquired over the course of the pandemic 

• A guarantee that the employer would provide pay for anyone forced to stay home after a work-related exposure to communicable diseases

• Our proposals that ensured promotions to a higher job classification level (i.e. ST I to ST 2, RT I to RT2, ect) would be accessible to everyone and that their years of experience would be fully credited when moving up

• An increase to our Per Diem premium

• Our reduced cost parking plan

• Guarantees that every union member would see a step increase every year

• Guarantees that our benefits cannot change without our consent

• Increased Bereavement Leave time

• Improvements to our Sick Time and Vacation plans

• And many others

If management believes their proposed pitiful wage increases alone are enough to fix the staffing crisis, they are delusional. Our next contract needs to include significantly higher wage increases as well as real, tangible improvements to the other economic factors that affect our take home pay. An industry leading, holistic approach is the only way for us to truly end the staffing crisis. 

Yesterday’s session showed us that our team’s fears were justified: management is completely out of touch with what we as union workers need. It’s clear that our words at the bargaining table alone aren’t enough to get through to them. 

It’s time we give management a reality check. We, as the workers that keep Seattle Children’s Hospital running, need to start taking bold actions to show management we are willing to stand united and fight for the contract we deserve! 

Please come to our next Contract Action Team meeting on February 14 at 4:30PM.

At this meeting we will be discussing the big actions we have on the horizon and can go into detail about what we are proposing at the bargaining table. 

Our bargaining team wants to be as accessible as possible throughout this process and will begin hold “office hours” sessions periodically on evening, weekends, and other times when our coworkers may be available. To learn more about these sessions or our contract negotiations in general please call our Union Rep Christie Harris at 206-436-6606 and request to join our Slack channel. 

*Note: this is an office line and cannot receive text messages

In our bargaining session on February 17 we plan to push back hard against management and again propose the strong wages and other economic increases we need. Stay tuned for more updates, especially about upcoming actions.

“The hospital says they are expecting a contract settlement as soon as possible, but refuse to back that with any meaningful concessions. If they really think their current proposals will convince any people to stay, they are even more out of touch than we thought.”

— Madison Derksema, Pharmacy Tech

Our SCH Tech bargaining team: Matt Brabant - Respiratory Educator, Madison Derksema - Pharmacy Tech, Angela Ballard – Surgical Tech, Kellie Koenig – Ultrasound Tech, Ashley Strickland – Respiratory Transport, Tyler Schaffer – Anesthesia Tech, Tesfaldet Kidanemariam – Respiratory Therapist 

UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 Members in Shock Over Shooting in Richland, WA Fred Meyer Store

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2022 1:30 PM
Contact: Tom Geiger, 206-604-3421

UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 Members in Shock Over Shooting in Richland, WA Fred Meyer Store

Richland, WA – UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 expressed deep concern for victims and survivors of a shooting that took place earlier today at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, WA. UFCW 1439 represents workers in this store, as well as other grocery stores in eastern Washington, food processing, and other industries. UFCW 21 represents workers at grocery stores in western Washington and many other industries across the state including health care workers in Richland, Washington.

“Our communities are standing together in support of our co-workers and others in the Richland community who have been impacted by this shooting. Workers in our local grocery stores have experienced many safety concerns over the last two years under COVID. This tragic shooting is another shock to all of us. No one should have to worry about their safety when going into a store to get groceries for their family. We stand together with everyone in our community against this violence.” said Eric Renner, President of UFCW 1439.

“Today, and in the coming weeks, we will do whatever we can to get support to the workers from this store and the local community,” added Faye Guenther, President of UFCW 21.

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Combined, UFCW 1439 and UFCW 21 represent over 50,000 workers in grocery stores, health care, food processing and many other industries across Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho

St. Michael Medical Center RN - Bargaining Continues

“We were disappointed when management’s first proposal focused more on enhancing their contractual rights instead of working to address our concerns.”

Your Bargaining Team: Anne Burns, Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson

Your Bargaining Team met with management again on February 3, continuing contract negotiations for nurses at St. Michael Medical Center.

We began our session by passing additional proposals to the employer for their consideration, including:  

• Changes to how we recognize the past experience of new hires when placing them on the wage scale,

• Increases to both our Paid Time Off (PTO) accrual rates and the maximum allowed in your bank,

• Easier access to your Extended Illness Bank (EIB),

• Improvements to our language regarding paid holidays and bereavement leave, 

• And much more!

We also proposed an entirely new article titled “Health, Safety and Staffing,” all of which was identified as a major concern in the bargaining survey. When writing this new article, we researched union contracts up and down the west coast in search of solutions, using what we found to write language that would best address the unique problems at St. Michael Medical Center. This includes staffing ratios requirements, strong pandemic language (not just COVID-19), hazard pay, language regarding the refusal of hazardous assignments, and an improved process to report staffing concerns. 

The employer also provided your Bargaining Team with a proposal. Unfortunately, almost everything in their proposal was a power grab, only enhancing their own authority while failing to address any of the issues we brought to their attention. 

Management’s proposal included an increase to the resignation period (28-days instead of current 21 days), additional access restrictions for Union Representatives visiting the medical center, stripping per diems’ access to the grievance procedure, a broad and overreaching management’s rights clause, and more. 

The only benefit that management did propose was a B.S.N/M.S.N differential of one dollar per hour. While they were proud to offer this new premium, we have been asking for this differential for years and, after many neighboring hospitals already added the benefit to their contracts, they’re finally relenting. While we will certainly accept the addition of a B.S.N/M.S.N differential, we have a long ways to go until we reach a complete agreement with the Employer.  

We are scheduled to meet with the employer again on February 8 with additional dates scheduled through March. 

You’re Invited! 

Attend regular Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure management, and learn how to get your co-workers involved. Our next meeting is being held virtually Monday, February 7 @6:00PM 

St. Michael’s Medical Center (RN) February CAT Meeting

Monday, February 7

6:00PM

Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for call-in details. Details will be also emailed out.