PRMCE RN Bargaining Update

Providence asked for expedited bargaining, yet repeatedly failed to bring any counter proposal to our wage and staffing proposal.

Providence thought their best proposal for wages and staffing language was what Michelle Lundstrom sent in her May 22, 2023 email. Nurses should feel disrespected by this lack of action from Providence.

Given Providence’s lack of movement around staffing and wages, we will be launching a strike pledge card. Get ready to show solidarity with your coworkers and sign your strike pledge cards at the hospital and online.

Be on the lookout for information on your next Contract Action Team meeting! Keep wearing your blue and yellow, it’s time to put our words to ACTION!

If you have questions reach out to our Union Bargaining Team or Rep. Anthony Cantu at 206-436-6566

PRMCE RNs Back at the negotiations table!

“Nurses treat patients with dignity and respect. We expect the same from Providence. We are not going to take disrespect from the Employer bargaining team” —Kelli Johnson

We are back at the negotiations table with Providence and are continuing to fight for the contract that we all deserve. Today at the table we addressed non-economics, including skills departments, access to your union representative, membership language and language to ensure Nurses can receive coverage for participating in negotiations.

Providence came to the table being aggressive and disrespectful, but we stood our ground and movement is being made, including some Tentative Agreements on:

  • Discipline and Discharge: discipline after 18 months cannot be used for progressive discipline, and discipline in your file to be removed after 18 months by request.

  • Skills Departments: changes to skills departments that ensure safer staffing.

If you have questions reach out to our Union Bargaining Team or Rep. Anthony Cantu at 206-436-6566

Tri-Cities Community Health RNs Ratify First Contract

The Bargaining Team would like to thank everyone that showed up to vote YES on our new 3 year contract.

Our bargaining team is excited to announce that on June 21, 2023 Tri Cities Community Health workers made history with Ratifying their First contract by a Unanimous vote. The new contract guarantees two wage increases each year of the contract, annual merit bonuses, a competitive wage scale, job security, Grievance process, Continuing Education reimbursement, Union Security, Equality and fairness from now on.

We now have a voice that will be heard by All! Reach out to our Bargaining Team or Union Rep. Juanita Quezada at 509-340-7407 if you have any questions or concerns and to learn how you can get involved.

Forks Community Hospital Service & Technical - Tentative Agreement Reached! Contract Vote Scheduled

After four bargaining sessions your service and technical union contract negotiating team has reached a tentative agreement!

  • Improvements to the collective bargaining agreement include:

  • Across the board wage increases.

  • Improvements to on-call, shift differentials, and weekend premiums phased in over the life of the contract!

  • Multi-lingual pay for people certified by Washington state as fluent in a language other than English that is regularly spoken with patients.

  • Certification pay for some job classifications wherein people receive certs that are not already requirements of the position (to be discussed in the Labor Management Committee prior to implementation in early 2024).

Please join us for a drop-In contract vote! This Tentative Agreement is recommended by your bargaining team!

Thursday, July 6

  • 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

  • 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Hospital Conference Room

UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to attend a meeting, ask questions, and vote on the contract. Contact a Bargaining Team member or your Union Representative for any questions!

Our Bargaining Team: Jen Smith, Aleda Adams, Micaiah Nelson, Cheryl Depew

Macy’s Retail / Macy’s Furniture Gallery Stand up for liveable wages and benefits

We, the workers at Macy’s, demand that Management agrees to a fair contract that offers:

  • Fair wage increases that keep up with skyrocketing inflation,

  • High quality affordable healthcare,

  • Significant safety improvements for both workers and customers.

I'll Take Action for a Fair Contract!

https://bit.ly/macys23

Bargaining Team: Azia Domingo, Curtisy Bryant, Emily Hunter, Liisa Luick.

Our Union Bargaining Team recently met with Macy's Management from June 13-15 to continue discussions for our upcoming contract.

Throughout the meeting, we emphasized the urgent need for substantial wage increases and other economic benefits to offset inflation and the soaring cost of living. We also highlighted the importance of recognizing the tenure and loyalty of existing employees, especially as new hires are being brought in at higher pay rates than ever before due to the rising minimum wage.

In addition to wage increases, our team expressed an openness to exploring alternative solutions to address the current affordability crisis. This includes seeking more affordable healthcare options, higher commissions, or any other economic benefits that can supplement our wage adjustments. However, Macy's responded by expressing their struggles as a company and repeatedly referred to their poor performance as mentioned in recent news reports. As a result, they have shown very little flexibility in their wage proposal, offering a mere $0.40 raise in the first year and $0.35 raises in the second and third years of our contract.

During negotiations, our Bargaining Team highlighted the significant wage increases won by UFCW Local 3000 grocery store workers, underscoring that Macy's proposal falls far below the new industry standard. Shockingly, the Employer responded by stating that "we are not essential workers" and thus don't deserve comparable wage increases. Such a statement is outrageous and deeply disrespectful!

On a positive note, while little progress has been made on most issues, the Employer has decided to withdraw their proposal to implement the "Reliability" attendance program. This is good news as workers at non-union stores have reported negative experiences with this program. We can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it will not be implemented in our store.

The lack of productivity and disrespect in our meetings with Macy’s indicates that we must be prepared to take action! Show your support and solidarity by signing the strike pledge card today, sending a clear message against the insulting behavior exhibited by the Employer.

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Alison DeBoise

Alison DeBoise recording a solidarity video for California Planned Parenthood workers fighting for a union

Alison DeBoise (she/they pronouns) works as an Insurance Biller for Planned Parenthood in Seattle and is an active shop steward at her work location. They talk about how they got involve in being a steward:

After college, I knew I wanted to work for Planned Parenthood because I'm passionate about access to reproductive healthcare for all. I began working at the Bellevue location in the Refill Center mailing patients their medication and became interested in the union after getting to know my coworkers better, attending general membership meetings, and our contract expiring not long after the pandemic started. Other stewards in my workplace inspired me to become a steward because I wanted to be a helpful resource to my coworkers.

Alison is now serving on the bargaining committee for the Planned Parenthood contract during negotiations this year, and has also stepped up to offer solidarity with Southern California Planned Parenthood workers fighting to organize a union with UFCW Local 324 by recording a video to offer those workers solidarity:

Being a part of a union with my coworkers has given us greater power to ask for and get what we need. Better wages, better working conditions, better work-life balance, and better time-off benefits.

We couldn’t agree more with Alison!

Northwest Center - Making Headway

Northwest Center
Making Headway

“Many changes have been announced recently without much input from those of us providing care. The MOU on office spaces we won provides a process that feels empowering and gives us a voice.”

— Our Union Bargaining Team

Our Northwest Center UFCW 3000 Bargaining Team: Jenica Barrett, Speech Language Pathologist; Cassie Villarreal, Speech Language Pathologist; Kimmy Burns, Physical Therapist;  Julia Szilard, Physical Therapist (not pictured)

We reached tentative agreements on many of the foundations of our first Union contract! These include who is covered by our contract, what happens when new positions are created, Union membership, Union Orientation for new hires, and more. 

One of the most vital pieces for us to achieve better working conditions and wages is having the time for union stewards to prepare for negotiations. Management has time to prepare for negotiations during the workday, but previously rejected our proposals that the employees serving on the Bargaining Team be released from work for preparation. Preparing for bargaining is time intensive, and when it is conducted outside of work hours it limits accessibility for employees that have other obligations. We advocated for bargaining participants to be released from work for preparation so that future Bargaining Team members can participate without barrier. 

Our team also finalized an agreement on collaboration for office space changes. Our next bargaining date is on July 26 and we will be focusing on jointly crafting language around caseloads and remote work and presenting our economic proposals.

Questions or to get more involved, contact your Bargaining Team Stewards or Union Representative Ian Jacobson at 206-436-6550.
 

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PCC We made our proposals!

We met with PCC representatives on June 20. Our Union Bargaining Committee made proposals addressing:

  • Workplace Safety—including violent intruders, de-escalation training, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and security escorts

  • Hours and Scheduling—to make sure workers can get more hours when we need to

  • Critical Staffing Minimums—including extra pay for short staffing periods

  • Pension for Retirement—including increasing the employer contribution and securing the continuing funding needed to keep our pension plans healthy

  • WeTrain Workforce Development—to establish an employer-funded training and workforce development fund

  • Vacation Bidding—to establish more consistent and timely approval for vacation requests

In addition to these proposals, we had productive conversations with PCC around Annual Personal Development Reviews (APDR) as well as private employee spaces for lactation, religious observations, and self-medical checks.

Any PCC member is invited to RSVP and join us to observe our next bargaining session with PCC, July 26 @ 9:00AM. See you there!

TAKE ACTION TO BUILD POWER IN YOUR WORKPLACE:

Informational picket at Central District PCC on July 9 from 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Add your name: PCC Workers Declaration of Demands!

Our Union Bargaining Team also discussed the plan to win the best PCC contract possible, including how we can take collective action. This starts with asking our coworkers to sign on to the PCC Workers Declaration of Demands and do whatever it takes to achieve these demands. bit.ly/coopworkerspledge

Keep your personal information up-to-date

Don’t miss out on important bargaining updates, action alerts, and contract information: Make sure your personal contact info is up-to-date! Go to: ufcw3000.org/update-your-information

You have the right to wear Union buttons!

Join an upcoming Contract Action Team Meeting!

Talk to a Steward or Union Rep to get the dates and times for our June CAT meetings.

Jefferson County Public Employees - Delay on Ratification Vote Pending Further Negotiations with Management

Your bargaining team wants to let you know that after coming to what we believed was a Tentative Agreement on June 7, it appears that we have some details to work out with management and will be scheduling another bargaining session. 

We hope to be able to announce next week that these issues have been resolved and let the bargaining unit know when we will be able to hold a ratification vote, and we appreciate your patience! 

Our Bargaining Team: Tim Weissman, Quinn Grewell, Susan O’ Brien, Sarah Martin, John Pray.

Forks Community Hospital (RN) - New contract ratified

Forks Community Hospital (RN)
New contract ratified

Thank you for participating in the contract vote! The collective bargaining agreement was ratified on June 21, with all attending members voting “Yes” and the LPNs voting “Yes” to joining the RN unit. This agreement:

  • Increases wages 16.25% over the life of the contract

  • Adds LPNs to the RN bargaining unit

  • Protects affordable health care

  • Increases educator pay

“The Bargaining Team feels strongly that the wage increases in this newly ratified contract will continue to allow Forks Community Hospital to recruit and retain competent, qualified RNs. Thank you for participating in your union by attending the ratification vote!”

-Amanda Craft, Bargaining Team, ED/Acute Care RN

Providence St. Joseph Hospital - Tentative agreement reached

VOTE DETAILS

Join your co-workers and vote on the new contract! It takes all of us to fight for the benefits we worked hard for.

Tuesday, June 27
Drop in hours 2:30 PM—7 PM
Providence St. Joseph Hospital, Classroom

500 E. Webster Ave, Chewelah, WA

Our Bargaining Team spent long days with Management and are excited, hopeful, and confident this contract will help address retention and recruitment issues at Providence St. Joseph Hospital.

The new contract addresses:

  • The below average compensation with a new competitive wage scale

  • Increase to premiums

  • Added holiday

  • Clean up of unnecessary language

QUESTIONS? Please reach out to a Bargaining Team member or Union Rep Amy Radcliff @ 509- 340-7370.

Our Bargaining Team (L—R): Dawn Trotter, Financial Counselor; Bridgett Mccoy, Coordinator; Terri Barbano-Cardin, Respiratory Therapist; (back row) Amy Radcliff, Union Rep

St. Michael Medical Center (Pro-Tech) - Tentative agreement reached - Vote Scheduled

Ratification Vote

Join your coworkers and vote on the new contract!

Friday, June 30
6 AM—9 AM • 12 PM—3:30 PM • 6 PM —9 PM

St. Michael Medical Center - Conference Room G920 (near cafeteria), 1800 NW Myhre Rd, Silverdale, WA 98383

Our Union Bargaining Team is excited to announce that after negotiating late into the night of June 20, we have reached a tentative agreement with Management on our new contract!

Highlights of the proposed agreement include:

  • Goodbye to ghost steps: We have completely revamped the wage scale, ensuring that each step represents a meaningful increase. No more steps with a 0% increase.

  • Historic wage increases: Substantial raises for each classification that recognize the value of our work and dedication.

  • Healthcare maintained: Our healthcare coverage remains intact, providing the same level of comprehensive coverage, low cost, and support as before.

  • Standby pay for professional and technical roles will see an unprecedented increase.

  • We have restored the Per Diem differential back to 15%.

  • Our new contract also includes improved language on critical issues such as low census, preceptorship, certification pay, grievances, and much more!

The above highlights only scratch the surface of all the improvements proposed for our contract. More details, including copies of the entire proposed contract, will be available at the ratification vote.

Bargaining Team: Paul Harris, ER Tech; Chris Young, Transport; Don Szabo, Lead Medical Imaging; Rob Shauger, CNA 8th floor; Angela Roberson, Heart and Vascular; Connie Baker, RT; Kain McLeod, Pharmacy Technician

Multicare Covington medical center CONTRACT VOTE SCHEDULED!

After many months of bargaining, we finally have a tentative agreement. We worked hard to get a contract that works for all! We won historic wage increases that can help recruit and retain qualified staff!

We also won:

  • New wage scales and job classifications.

  • Filled in all ghost steps.

  • Low Census Limits for RNs.

  • Staffing Accountability Language.

  • And other great wins!

Wednesday, June 28, 2023
6:00am-8:00am, 12pm-3:30pm, and 5pm-8pm
At the Covington Command Center (In the hospital wing down the hall from the kitchen)

The vote will be in-person and members will have the opportunity to speak to Bargaining Team members before casting their ballot. Please arrive during the posted vote times as we cannot allow members to enter the vote room outside of the advertised times.

LabCorp Negotiations Begin!

On Friday, June 16 our Union Bargaining Team met with Management to begin contract negotiations. We shared some our non-economic proposals addressing concerns about Safety, the Grievance Process, and Union access and orientation.

We also raised our collective concerns about Staffing, Wages, Sick Leave, and FMLA. We asked Management how they plan to address ongoing problems with underpaying and understaffing our worksites, and to take a proactive and collaborative approach to staff recruitment and retention. We shared our powerful stories to drive home how these serious and widespread issues are affecting us at work and at home. We look forward to hearing their responses and diving deeper into these issues and economics when we meet next. We’ll stand firm in our belief that UFCW LabCorp workers and patients deserve better, and together, we’ll fight to win a fair contract!

GET INVOLVED!

June 27 at 6:30PM - 7:30PM on Zoom!

“Join us next Tuesday for our Contract Action Team Meeting to discuss specifics about the challenges we’re facing at the table and how we can stand together to win the best contract possible. We will also be sharing info on how to apply for short-term disability and FMLA!” —Nancy Pyanowski, Dispatch

GOT BUTTONS? Show THEM!

Share a pic of you or your coworkers wearing UFCW 3000 lanyards and buttons on SLACK or Facebook.

Questions or concerns? Reach out to our Bargaining Team or Union Rep, Christie Harris at 206-436-6606.

UFCW 3000 Member Story: Jenny Johnson De-Escalates A Dangerous Situation

Jenny Johnson

Unfortunately, grocery and retail workers are dealing with more violence in their workplaces, and it too often involves firearms. Since these workers are in public-facing businesses there is little between them and the world’s problems.

Jenny Johnson works at the Twin Lakes Fred Meyer and was at work recently when a shooting took place. She approached one of the victims who was at one of the front doors wounded. She noticed that he was holding a gun and so she stopped and said she would help as long as he put the gun aside. Once the gun was out of the situation Jenny and a coworker walked the victim over to the customer-service desk and applied towels to the wounds. When the paramedics arrived Jenny was able to keep the victim calm and encouraged him to answer all questions of the first responders at the scene.

But now Jenny is concerned because of the lack of an emergency door near the customer service area. Her coworkers upfront brought up that the Tacoma and Puyallup locations have emergency doors nearby to allow for quick and safe evacuation. We agree that this is a reasonable request of Fred Meyer to keep these workers safe!

Education and Safety Resources are available through our Union!

You and your co-workers are the key to building a strong union that advocates for safety in every workplace >>

Covington Medical Center - Historic tentative agreement reached

MultiCare Covington Hospital
HISTORIC TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED

We worked hard to get some great improvements to our contract, but we couldn’t get everything we wanted this go around. We won new historic wages with the largest first year increases we have ever seen – making us the highest paid in the MultiCare system. We are proud to recommend a YES vote!

After months of bargaining, we finally reached a tentative agreement and fought hard to get a contract that works for all. As a result, we won historic language and wage increases!

» Historic wages that can help recruit and retain qualified staff

» New wage scales and job classifications

» Filled in all ghost steps

» Low census limits for RNs

» Staffing accountability language

» And other great wins!

PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VOTING TIMES SO YOU CAN VOTE ON OUR NEW CONTRACT!

If you have questions, please reach out to a Bargaining Team member OR call Union Rep Ian Jacobson @ 206-436-6550.

MFused - Bargaining Continues

Want to learn more details and find out how we can work together to win a fair contract? Join our negotiations update meeting!

Wednesday, June 28 @ 3PM
Round Table Pizza, 15730 1st Ave S, Burien WA, 98148

Food will be provided.

On June 13, our Bargaining Team met with Management to continue negotiations. Management saw our sticker action around water bottles, and we are happy to announce that we maintained the right to keep water bottles at our workstations! Although that was resolved, we still have a long way to go on other issues.

We presented our proposals around:

  • Fairness in the disciplinary process

  • Process to resolve workplace grievances

  • Application of seniority

Management is insistent on:

  • Not having cell phones at work

  • Ultimately changing our work schedules to begin and end later

We agreed to add language around protective gear, and follow state law around product use in the workplace. We listened to all concerns around Management’s proposals and are pushing back to maintain our current schedules and access to our phones.

WhidbeyHealth Medical Center - We deserve a fair contract

WhidbeyHealth Medical Center
We deserve a fair contract

We are at the tail end of non-economics but have a few items not tentatively agreed upon. We are still holding strong to 14 days-notice to submit a resignation, but WhidbeyHealth disagrees and wants a fulfillment of 21 days-notice.

We also continued to propose our non-discrimination language that included timelines to ensure that with a complaint, our voices are heard and an investigation is started. WhidbeyHealth has told us they are not interested in responding to non-discrimination language within a 30 day timeline. They told us that their final offer was to have no timeline for a response. All we are asking from WhidbeyHealth is to ensure their employees can find out if their discrimination concerns are being heard and investigated. If there are discrimination issues at work, shouldn’t we be confident that the Employer is looking into those complaints within 30 days?

Show solidarity with our co-workers to let WhidbeyHealth know that WE WANT A FAIR CONTRACT AND WE WANT IT NOW!

We were supposed to be bargaining the week of June 26, but WhidbeyHealth has canceled our bargaining date for that week. We will be passing out stickers to wear the week of the June 26.

WhidbeyHealth Bargaining Team:
Jennifer MacNeill, Lab; Rosalie Nguyen, Pharmacy

Northwest Center Progress Made in West Seattle

“Thank you to everyone who shared the Community Letter and has been participating in solidarity actions! This type of unity will help us continue to make progress and win a contract we can be proud of.” — Our Union Bargaining Team

Last week our Union Bargaining Team met with NWC Leadership to discuss questions about the changes in service area boundaries and office closures. It was a deep dialogue- where they shared their commitment to having a structure in place for reassigning West Team providers and new referrals. We agreed that feedback will be elicited from all affected employees before any decisions are made.

NWC shared that they didn’t have a set plan already decided and committed to getting input from providers before making decisions on how to structure our teams and caseloads.

We negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines a timeline between now and August 18 for sharing information, gathering feedback, a work group process, and democratic voting on the plan moving forward.

Bargaining resumes on June 20 to negotiate over changes in Offices and continue conversations on remote work and caseloads, and on July 26 our Union Bargaining Team will present our Economic proposals.

Questions or to get more involved, contact your Bargaining Team Stewards or Union Representative Ian Jacobson at 206-436-6550.

Follow us on our social media to stay up to date with bargaining!

Facebook: Early Supports Uwnion | Twitter: @earlysupportsunion