Kaiser Permanente Pharmacy Meet the Bargaining Team

JJ Benson, Pharmacy Tech

I believe everyone has a voice and being on the bargaining team allows me to advocate for them and ensure their voices are heard.
 
In my spare time, I run a Facebook group to create and send greeting cards to people who live in assisted living facilities for every holiday and birthday. We send cards to over 800 people. Fun fact: in 2011, I auditioned for the X Factor and made it to the second round.

Cesar Galloso, Infusion Pharmacy Tech

Certain contract language is being used against us and this should not happen. We want a fair contract and I am dedicated to making sure all staff and our department are protected from these becoming "new" precedents.
 
I love spending time with family — taking my son to Seattle Thunderbirds hockey games and going to outdoor concerts. Foo Fighters at the Gorge with the sunset behind and seeing Carlos Santana with my parents at the White River Amphitheatre are memories I’ll never forget.

Krystal Krotzer, Pharmacy Tech Spokane

I joined the bargaining team to ensure we get the best possible contract we can.
 
I'm a single mom of a beautiful daughter and for many years I worked with a nonprofit organization. I love to travel and one of my favorite places in the world is my grandparents' farm in Saskatchewan.

Jason Lindquist, Pharmacist

I am on the bargaining team to fight for better wages, better staffing, and a better working environment.
 
I like getting together with friends to play board games. Our current favorites are all world-building: Orleans, Viticulture, and Grand Austria Hotel.  As a kid, my favorite game was Uncle Wiggily. 

Kay Halverson, Pharmacist

I care deeply about supporting my coworkers and making sure our voices are heard. I believe in standing up for fair working conditions, mutual respect, employees’ well-being and I’m committed to helping create a workplace where everyone feels valued. 
 
I’ve been a pharmacist for 30 years, I have four children and three grandchildren…and goats, chickens, cats, and dogs. My favorite book is Les Miserables and when I’m not skydiving in Snohomish, I love tubing on rivers.

Mark Stewart, Clinical Pharmacist

I am on the bargaining team to fight for fairness within our local contract — regardless of a member's location. I've worked at KPWA/Group Health for the past 31 years and this is my fourth time being on the bargaining team. My ultimate goal is to maintain our current benefits and ideally win at least, if not more, than what other KP regions have.
 
Outside of work (pun intended), I love to hunt elk and fish. Fun fact about me: I live a couple of miles from the house I grew up in.


For additional information reach out to a Bargaining Team Member.

Make sure your contact information is up-to-date! >>

Card Kingdom Roundtables: A Win from Our Labor Management Committee (LMC)!

For weeks, our LMC members collected survey responses about how poor communication and unclear expectations lead to stress and poor morale at Card Kingdom. On June 20, our Card Kingdom LMC met with management to discuss an agenda of workplace issues we compiled from your survey responses. At the end of the meeting, our committee delivered a compilation of powerful statements with a request attached: Card Kingdom management needs to host consistent roundtables with us to discuss issues, questions, concerns, and to repair morale and respect. The committee thoughtfully presented this letter of your statements and asked to meet again to hear their response.

As a result, Card Kingdom management met our demands by agreeing to host twice weekly roundtables with union members, management, and VP representatives!

This is a win we all can celebrate! We need to continue organizing together to use our powerful worker-led union at Card Kingdom where all of our voices can be heard. Roundtables are our space to organize, communicate openly, and give feedback with actionable results.

"Card Kingdom is at its best when everyone is able to come to work and do our best to both help each other out and help meet customer commitments with the trust that we know what's expected, why, and how to get there.... We also, crucially, want to be considered part of the community around the campfire, not just fuel to be burned."

— Labor Management Committee Letter excerpt

If you have any questions about upcoming roundtable meetings, please reach out to your stewards for support or call your representative Allison Hanley at (206) 436-6586.

Do you want to become a workplace leader, get involved in our Labor Management Committee, or become a shop steward? Reach out to one of your committee members or Allison Hanley to get involved!

Your Labor Management Committee: John Proudfoot, Aaron Sargent, Natalie Roggenbuck, and August Jones

Providence Centralia Hospital RN Contract Vote Scheduled

Providence Centralia Hospital RN Contract Vote Scheduled

Our union bargaining committee, representing the registered nurses at Providence Centralia Hospital is proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement on our new contract! Vote meetings have been scheduled, and all PCH RNs are encouraged to attend!

Read More

North Valley Hospital & Extended Care (Non-RNs) Tentative Agreement Reached! Contract Vote Scheduled!

Our bargaining team is recommending a YES vote on a proposed change to our contract language. The proposal includes important updates that would:

  • Increase access to certification premiums

  • Introduce two new job classifications with associated wage scales

Bargaining Team: Michelle Beattie, Tonya Smith

In-Person Vote

August 11, 2025
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Boardroom, North Valley Hospital

All relevant vote documents will be available at the vote.

Eligibility:

UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to drop in the vote meeting, ask questions, read the proposal, and cast their vote.

Not a member yet? No problem! You can:

Have Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your bargaining team or Union Representative, Becky Latzel (509) 340-7370.

Dockside Cannabis - Contract Negotiations Continue – We're Making Progress!

On July 30, we met again with Dockside Cannabis management to continue negotiations toward your first union contract.

We responded to nearly all of the company's outstanding proposals and had productive discussions at the table. The management said they need time to review our responses, and we're currently working together to schedule our next bargaining dates.

After feedback about the current health insurance, we presented the company with union health plan options that offer better benefits at equal or lower cost for both employees and the employer.

Here's an example comparing one of the union plan options to the company's current base plan (for employee only):

Plan Details Current Company Plan Union Plan Option
Deductible $3,000 individual / $9,000 family $250 individual / $500 family
Primary Care Visit $40 copay $10 copay
Specialist Visit $40 copay $25 copay


These plans would provide significantly better access to care and much lower out-of-pocket costs. We've asked the company for more information so we can present exact rates for different coverage levels.

Where We're Getting Closer

We're narrowing in on agreement in some key areas:

  • Seniority rights

  • Union Representation that includes access to worksite breakroom, bulletin boards, and clear shop steward rights

  • Discipline and Discharge like Just Cause language, which means you can't be fired or disciplined without a fair reason and a fair process

  • Grievance Procedure that includes a structured process for addressing workplace issues or contract violations


Open Session: Review Proposals & Health Plan Options Q&A

August 13
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

August 13
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Bring your questions, ideas, or just come to listen!

Questions? Contact Aaron Bailey (360) 409-0551 or Chris Arellano 360-409-0241

Lourdes Counseling Center - Tentative Agreement Reached – Your Voice Matters! Our Bargaining Team is Recommending a YES vote!

On July 30 and 31, our rank-and-file bargaining team met with management and successfully reached a tentative agreement! We voiced our concerns regarding economic issues. The employer heard us, after 12 hours on the 31st, and we're excited to share how these historically significant wage increases will improve recruitment, retention, and safe staffing!

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

— Helen Keller

Now, it's time for us to come together and make our voices heard!

What's Next:

Say goodbye to a five-year contract and hello to a better future! We're taking action to ensure a brighter future for all workers.

In-Person Vote

August 8, 2025
6:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Lourdes Counseling Center, Cafeteria Room

  • All vote documents will be available at the vote

Eligibility:

  • UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to drop-in the vote meeting, ask questions, read the proposal, and cast their vote.

  • Not a member yet? No problem! You can:

Have Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to your bargaining team or Union Representative, Juanita Quezada (509) 340-7407.

Bargaining Team: Marilyn Pritchard, Shanelle Cox, Joe Goodman, and Nichole Arnzen

Have a Heart - Contract Ratified!

On July 30, following vote meetings at all five stores, we're excited to announce that members voted overwhelmingly to ratify our Have a Heart union contract! Our bargaining team fought hard to uplift and protect our members, and we're ready to keep that momentum going as we look to the future.

What's Next?

Our union and Have a Heart will work together to finalize and sign the CBA. Once completed, print copies will be handed out to every store. In the meantime, the redline version of our contract will be available online on our website. Find your contract >>

The new wage structure will go into effect immediately, and anyone whose 2025 anniversary date has already passed will begin receiving their applicable raise. Check the redline or vote summary to determine your increase.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your Union Rep, a member of our bargaining team, or your steward!

Union Rep Aaron Bailey abailey@ufcw300.org or call (no text) 206-436-6631 for any questions.

Duty Free America - We Reached An Agreement! Vote On August 11!

After two bargaining sessions, we are proud to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with Duty Free America management!

From the beginning, our goal was clear: to improve compensation, recognize your years of service, and build a workplace culture that supports and retains staff. Our collective efforts at the bargaining table have secured significant improvements.

Some of the highlights of the agreement we reached include:

  • Increased PIC premium

  • Increase to annual wage increases for all classifications

  • Improved union access language

  • New additional floating holiday

  • New union leave language

  • Longevity bonus after 10 years of service

  • Improved PTO payout language

  • Improved dress code

  • Improvements to scheduling language

  • Increased hire-in rate

Vote on Tentative Agreement
August 11
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Breakroom

The vote will be in-person. UFCW 3000 members in good standing are encouraged to drop-in to a vote meeting, read the tentative agreement, ask questions, and cast their vote. You can sign up to be a union member on the day of our vote or by calling Membership Services at 1-866-210-3000 prior to the vote.

Your bargaining team recommends a "YES" vote!

Capital Medical Center RN - Bargaining Update – Time to Step Up

Since late May, your RN bargaining team has been at the table fighting for real solutions to short staffing and unsafe conditions. We've put forward proposals that reflect your priorities—better staffing, competitive pay, and stronger protections. Instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue, management has dismissed our proposals and violated key parts of the contract we already have.

Contract Violations – Grievances Filed

We've filed grievances to address the Hospital's repeated violations of our current CBA:

  • "Flex Time": Management is low censusing RNs, then expecting them to remain on-call without providing on-call pay. Article 7.6 is clear: RNs are not required to be on-call for all or part of a shift they were scheduled for and then low censused from. Changing start times or forcing nurses to wait by the phone—without compensation—is a contract violation.

  • In-House Registry Pay: Under Article 12, nurses working in-house registry shifts beyond their FTE are owed 1.5x pay—no 40-hour condition applies. Management is withholding that pay and claiming they can revoke it at will. That's not how our contract works—and we're fighting back.

These issues all point to a pattern: Capital Medical wants more out of nurses—more flexibility, more hours, more patience—without paying more. That's unacceptable.

Capital Medical Center is expanding services and asking more of RNs every day, yet refusing to invest in staff. We've proposed:

  • Double pay for all extra and vacant shifts

  • Premium pay increases

  • Competitive wage increases and removal of ghost steps

  • Break relief RNs for every unit

  • Safe staffing ratios and enforceable staffing language

  • An additional holiday and expanded holiday pay for night shift nurses

  • Increased PTO and EIB usage from day one

Capital Medical rejected these proposals—while claiming they want to compete with Providence St. Peter. If they're serious, they need to invest in nurses.

Instead, nurses are being told daily about how to take breaks on time—without enough staff to cover those breaks. We've been clear: no break relief RNs and short staffing = no missed and untimely breaks.

Nurses are stretched thin. Morale is low. And instead of investing in the workforce, Capital Medical is rejecting commonsense proposals.

What's Next

We are continuing to push management to take these issues seriously. Our next bargaining session is August 6 and our contract will expire September 30, 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact your bargaining team or Kimberly Starkweather, Union Rep (206) 436-6515.

Bargaining team: Dennis Verellen, ICU; Bonnie Verellen, L&D; Holly Bruckner, ED; Cindy Dixon, PCU

Providence St. Peter Hospital RN - Bargaining Update

On Wednesday July 23, & Thursday, July 24, our bargaining team representing the registered nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital met with management for our ninth and tenth sessions. We began the week with cautious optimism, as management indicated they would finally respond to our proposed Staffing Article, which we first presented on April 29. After months of silence on this critical issue, we were ready to engage in meaningful dialogue.

Unfortunately, the employer's response did not meet the urgency or seriousness of the staffing concerns we've raised throughout this bargain. Rather than offering meaningful improvements or new ideas, their proposal largely repackaged existing language already in our current contract, which outlines existing committees currently operating at our hospital.

Providence's response consisted of various revisions to the existing Nurse Practice and Staffing Committee Letter of Understanding (LOU)—a committee whose operation predates the 2022 Hospital Staffing Committee legislation. Management proposed separating some current contract language related to the Unit Based Council and Professional Governance workgroups into two distinct LOUs. These changes do little—if anything—to improve what we see as the structural causes of unsafe staffing, or give us any feedback on the staffing language our team put so much hard work and critical thinking into.

The lack of direct feedback on our Staffing Article, which would provide our team with the opportunity to appropriately consider and modify our proposal to aim for actionable solutions, prompted us to request this directly when we met with management later on July 24.

A summary of our union's latest Staffing Article:

  • Staffing Ratios: Minimum RN-to-Patient ratios that must be maintained at all times, including during meal and rest breaks. The proposal includes flexibility to adjust the number of RN staff to exceed minimum staffing levels to account for acuity and intensity, consistent with the unit's staffing plan.

  • Enforcement: When ratios are not satisfied, nurses will be paid a premium of $5.00/hr for that specific shift and unit.

    • The Employer will send a quarterly report to the union of total premiums paid under the above.

  • Float Pool: The Employer will maintain a dedicated float pool equaling 5.0% of the total RN workforce at Providence St. Peter.

  • Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan: When there are greater than 20 boarded patients in the ED, and greater than 20 patients in the ED waiting room for longer than one hour, the contingency staffing plan goes into effect. The employer will make all reasonable efforts to assign five additional RNs to patient care. This plan remains in place until both numbers fall below 20 for no less than a continuous hour.

  • Break Relief Nurses: The Employer will post job openings for and make reasonable efforts to hire the equivalent of 13.0 FTE Break Relief nurses within 21 days of contract ratification. Break Relief nurses will assume patient care assignments for another RN so they may take an uninterrupted meal and/or rest break. Break Relief RNs will not have a patient care assignment of their own so they can appropriately cover the assignment. Furthermore, Break Relief RNs shall only be assigned to take patients that they have the appropriate qualifications and competencies to care for.

    • A "break buddy" model (or otherwise similar but differently titled system) will not be considered an appropriate substitute or replacement for staffing unencumbered break relief nurses.

Management's feedback on our Staffing Article suggested concerns that a few elements of our proposal—namely the minimum staffing ratios and Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan—might be too restrictive, implying that such standards could limit their flexibility to address staffing issues proactively, or to add nurses before the triggering conditions are met. Our team remains open to dialogue that ensures solutions are both safe and workable, and so we appreciate this dialogue. However, our stated goal is to set a standard for the minimums on safe staffing—and the capacity for management to act sooner if they see fit is written plainly in our Staffing Article's opening paragraph.

As a follow up to this discussion, we compiled a number of the studies, articles, and other resources we referenced while drafting our proposal and provided them to management in the hopes of substantiating the contents. These included Washington State Public Policy, which compares and contrasts different state hospital staffing plans; Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios from California State Law; staffing laws in effect in other nearby states; the American Nurses Association, who conclude that costs to individual hospitals can be higher when it is understaffed; and regional collective bargaining agreements which directly state minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

We look forward to continuing the conversation with management on solutions to staffing.

"We have a duty to advocate for our patients; we feel like once again, the responses we got from management come with no immediate action, no new concepts, and overall, just fell flat."

— Julia Douglas

"Our team put a lot of work and thoughtfulness into our approach to the staffing language proposal, and what we presented to Providence takes into consideration things we can do outside of the Hospital Staffing Committee—to be proactive while scheduling nurses ahead of time, but also having a plan of action when staffing reaches critical levels; like the Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan. If their concern is that this mechanism might go into effect too late, we wish they would incorporate that into their counter, rather than just reject it entirely..."

— Ashley McBride

"The lack of an appropriate number of staff to care for patients on other units impacts the entire hospital—even units that aren't themselves suffering from a staffing issue, and because then RNs are being floated."

— Andy Dusablon
 

Contact Action Team Meeting

August 7
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Virtual Meeting

Meeting ID: 858 1875 0093
Passcode: 3000

In-Person Location

Washington State Labor Council Building - Olympia

  • 3rd Floor Conference Room

  • 906 Columbia St SW #330, Olympia, WA 98501

  • Front door code: 3413

Sign the Strike Pledge >>

PRMCE Technical - Contract Ratified—Say Goodbye To Ghost Steps!

On Wednesday, July 30, following a series of highly attended vote meetings at both the Pacific and Colby campuses of Providence Everett, we're thrilled to announce that our Technical union contract has been ratified with overwhelming support!

Our union bargaining team is proud of the work we accomplished at the table and proud to share this win with all of our coworkers.

What's Next?

  • Finalizing the Contract: Our union and Providence will now work to finalize and sign the new Agreement. Once completed, printed copies will be distributed throughout the medical center.

    • Access in the Meantime: Redlined versions of the fully ratified contract (including updated language articles and wage scales) have been added to the contract page on our union's website

  • Wage Increases: Our new wages will go into effect two full pay periods from ratification (July 30!)

If you have any questions about our new union contract, please reach out to our Union Rep Madison Derksema at (206) 436-6603, or contact a member of our bargaining team!
 

Fresenius Medical Care - Frustration Comes to a Head at Fresenius Bargaining

Fresenius bargaining team is not amused with the wage proposals made by management (from left: Maria Lucas, PCT 2; Jovona Trevino, PCT 2; and Krista Smith, PCT 2).

We met with Fresenius management again on Friday to hear their long-awaited response to our economic proposals. We were excited to learn management agreed to add the GO4RN program to the contract so that any PCTs participating in the program will receive a 5% wage increase for each quarter of the program completed. They also made progress toward agreeing to add the PCT 3 position and its higher wages to the contract.

The excitement quickly faded when we learned that they rejected our longevity bonus proposal outright and, in terms of wage increases, are proposing a measly 1.5% raise on ratification, then a 1.5% raise in 2026 and another 1.5% raise in 2027. Even as management's very first wage proposal, 1.5% feels like a slap in the face. They also wholly rejected our reasonable proposals on safer patient scheduling and worker protections from harassment by difficult patients.

The fight is far from over. If you too are frustrated reading this, then join us at our next CAT meeting this Sunday, August 3 at the University Place branch of the Pierce County Library from 3:30-4:30pm and on Zoom. Your team will be there to talk about our last bargaining session and what we plan to do between now and the next bargaining date, August 18. We will be debuting a petition to demand that management take our bargaining proposals seriously on real wage increases and on safe patient scheduling. We'll also discuss actions we can take individually and as a team to show Fresenius we're united and we're not backing down. Reach out to your Rep Charlie or a bargaining team member with any concerns about the meeting or Zoom link. We'll see you there!

CAT Meeting

August 3
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
University Place Branch of the Pierce County Library

  • 3609 Market Place W., Suite 100

  • University Place, WA 98466

"A 1.5% raise is just not going to cut it considering they just passed the highest tax increase in history. We deserve better."

— Krista Smith, PCT 2, bargaining team

Fresenius Puyallup team shows solidarity (From left: Tami Gordon, PCT 2; Anabelle Moran, PCT 2; and Susie McAlpine, PCT 2)

ACME Farms + Kitchen - Contract Ratified!

On Tuesday, July 30, the new three-year union contract for ACME Farms was unanimously approved by all those who attended the vote! Management has been informed that the terms of the new agreement should now be implemented.

Our negotiator will go through the post-vote process of finalizing the document for approval and signing by both parties, then copies will be printed for distribution by our Union Representative Alyssa Conn. Alyssa can be reached at 360-419-4681 should you have any questions.

Sea Wolf Bakers - Progress Is Being Made!

Our bargaining team met with Sea Wolf Bakers' management on Tuesday, July 29. We reached several important Tentative Agreements on:

  • Daily overtime hours

  • Paid bereavement leave

  • Employer IRA contributions

  • Minimum report pay in the event we show up to work and are sent home

At this session we also celebrated an exciting stride toward agreement on key economic items! The employer provided their first proposal on digital and cash tips, and our bargaining team gave candid feedback on the importance of implementing tip pooling to keep up with the cost of living. Our team passionately continued the conversation on paid holidays and wage scales to work towards an agreement that is equitable for all staff.

During this session we heard additional feedback from the employer on heat safety. Although the specifics of "extreme heat" were disputed, our team maintained our position on the importance of heat relief breaks.

We are pleased to announce we secured August 12 for another bargaining session as well as the already-scheduled August 26 date, and are looking forward to gaining momentum towards a Fully Recommended Settlement Agreement we can then put to a vote of our fellow Sea Wolf Union members!

Bargaining Team: Frankie Hull, Delivery Driver; Miller Hammond, Barista; Sophia Cerreta, Savory and Bread Departments

St. Michael Medical Center RN Bargaining Update

On Monday, July 28, our Bargaining Team met with Management for our fourteenth joint bargaining session. We were given an economic proposal that would put our wages below those of St. Joseph Medical Center, an idea we were underwhelmed by. Other pieces they responded to were:

  • Retirement: they continue to offer a continuation of the existing 401K match and the potential addition of their cash balance option pension proposal as an alternative to the 401K, but have rejected our proposal to add Saint Michael to the Sound Variable Annuity Pension Trust.

  • Holidays: Management continues to reject adding Juneteenth to our existing holidays.

  • Contract Ratification Bonus: While they put a ratification bonus on the table this week, it was $500 for .9 FTEs and above, with this amount pro-rated for lower FTEs (per diems would be classified as .2 under their proposal).

Other items we traded continued proposals on were:

  • Mandatory call.

  • A workplace violence memorandum to address safety in the workplace. 

Contract Action Team Meeting

Our next Contract Action Team Meeting will be on July 31 at 6pm. Please join us to discuss how we can keep the pressure on Management to get a fair contract soon!

Join the CAT meeting July 31 at 6pm >>

Meeting ID: 893 9273 5171 Passcode: 798196

Community letter of support  >>

If you haven’t already, please sign our community support letter and share with friends and family.