St. Joseph Medical Center Technical Bargaining Update

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St. Joseph Medical Center Technical Bargaining Update

Thursday, June 4 marked our fourth bargaining session with CommonSpirit management, and also marked the Employer’s initial economic responses. Considering we brought our initial economic proposals all the way back on March 4, we were eager to see what their proposal entailed.  

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Annual Union Day at the Park - Silverwood Theme Park - Thursday, August 13, 2026

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It's that time of year again! Celebrate high summer with your fellow union members at Silverwood Theme Park & Boulder Beach Water Park. Get your tickets and find more details at the link below. 

Get Tickets Here



Forks Community Hospital RNs Tentative Agreement Reached

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Contract Vote Scheduled

Our Bargaining Team Recommends a YES Vote!

Our Forks Community Hospital RN Bargaining Team has reached a tentative agreement with Management and recommends a YES vote to approve the agreement.

Our team worked to secure improvements that recognize the essential work Forks nurses provide every day. This tentative agreement includes wage increases for all years of the agreement and other contract improvements that will be reviewed in full with members at the vote.

Highlights of the Tentative Agreement

  • Wage increases for all years of the agreement

  • Contract improvements to language 

  • Removal of negative wage re-opener


"We fought hard for a good and fair contract" —Ryan Elmer, Bargaining Team Member

CONTRACT RATIFICATION VOTE: Tuesday, June 16 
from 2:00pm – 5:30pm at Forks Community Hospital: Conference Room (across from Spoon’s Café)

Our Bargaining Team will be available during the vote to review the tentative agreement, answer questions, and provide members with the information needed before voting. Only members in good standing are eligible to vote.

Recovery Cafe - Tentative Agreement Reached – Vote Days Soon!

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Recovery Cafe
Tentative Agreement Reached – Vote Days Soon!

After nearly a year of negotiations, our Bargaining Team has reached a fully recommended tentative agreement with Recovery Cafe for our first contract! This is a momentous step in securing our core benefits and having job protections that are enforceable.

Key highlights in our first contract include:

  • “Just Cause” protections that set a grievance procedure for when members are disciplined or terminated

  • Guaranteed wage increases with backpay from July 2025 to when we ratify the agreement

  • A tenure-based wage scale that ensures wage increases based on seniority

  • A fully Employer-funded pension retirement plan at a 2.8% contribution rate

  • Protections on health care costs and introducing a new $200 per month maximum Employer-funded subsidy toward monthly premiums for members with dependents

  • And more improvements from the status quo

This first contract is a stepping stone for future negotiations and will be as strong as how we enforce it. We are also not done organizing! Our Union will be putting together a Labor Management Committee (LMC) to continue discussions with Recovery Cafe over an attendance policy. We also must stay organized to fight against unrealistic metrics for Recovery Specialists in our SODO Cafe!

What Happens Next?

Our Bargaining Team is recommending a “Yes” vote on the tentative agreement reached with Recovery Cafe. Our Union will be sending out a vote notice soon with the dates, times, and locations of a contract vote. Before the voting day, we will hold online contract walkthroughs where members can review the contract with the Bargaining Committee and Union staff, ask questions, and understand the agreement before the vote.

All members must be in good standing to be eligible to vote. Sign your union application to ensure you are in good standing before the vote: UFCW 3000 Membership Application.

If you have any questions, please reach out to one of your Bargaining Team members or our bargainer Dominick Ojeda: (360) 409-0595.

DreamClinic Every Minute Counts!

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DreamClinic Every Minute Counts!

Our Bargaining Team met with the Employer on May 20 and 26 virtually for half-day sessions. We devoted many hours crafting a comprehensive economic proposal designed to secure fair compensation and stable health care benefits for everyone. Unfortunately, we feel the Employer’s response leaves our core workplace realities unaddressed. While we want to remain optimistic about reaching a fair agreement, we feel like this is a delay tactic rather than a true step forward.

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MultiCare Covington Service, Tech and RN Bargaining Update

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“We may not have it all together but together we can have it all.” - Derek Howard, Engineer
 
We had a lot of productive discussions and the employer agreed to a quick turnaround for a bargaining session next Wednesday, June 3. 

Solidarity Days

Wear your union buttons, stickers and union colors for solidarity with our Bargaining Team on June 2 and June 3.

Make sure you have signed your strike pledge cards >>

Reach out to our union Rep Penny Cramer at 206-436-6559 if you have any questions.

MultiCare Capital Medical Center Professionals - Organizing to Win a Strong First Contract

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Our Union Bargaining Team held our 11 and 12 bargaining sessions with MultiCare on May 19 and 26, respectively. On Tuesday afternoon, May 26, after a day of working with management to wrap up remaining issues, it became clear that despite our efforts, the Employer had already made up its mind on certain positions. Not only do these positions differ from what MultiCare has agreed to in the other two Union contracts within Capital Medical Center—but also from the existing UFCW 3000 contracts at Tacoma General, Mary Bridge, Auburn Medical Center, Covington Medical Center, and many more.

MultiCare’s position not only could weaken and undermine us as newly-organized Professionals at Capital Medical Center—but also has implications that could harm unionized workers across Washington State.

In response, our Union has urgently assigned a team of UFCW 3000 staff to reach out to every worker in this bargaining unit to discuss MultiCare’s position and its implications, and ensure that all Professionals at Capital Medical Center and beyond understand the next steps we may need to take.

Be on the lookout—we will be in touch.

In the meantime, attend our Contract Action Team meeting to learn more about ongoing negotiations and strategies to build power to win a strong first Union contract!

Contract Action Team Meeting

Thursday, May 28
7pm - 8pm
Zoom
Meeting ID: 857 7757 1974 / Passcode: 412935
Join Zoom Meeting >>

“There are crucial issues on the table that we have worked diligently to reach an agreement with MultiCare on, and all we have gotten back from the Employer is a continuous digging in of its heels. It feels like it might be time for us all to take a stand. We need to show MultiCare they cannot use us as a precedent, make an example of us, or undermine our Union by treating us differently from the other thousands of workers across Thurston, Pierce, and King Counties.”

St. Michael Medical Center Professional-Technical-Clinical Support - Bargaining Update - Wednesday, May 20

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St. Michael Medical Center Professional-Technical-Clinical Support
Bargaining Update - Wednesday, May 20

Going into our fifth bargaining day with CommonSpirit for the Pro-Tech-Support contract, we knew it was time to bring a bold proposal forward to management. Recapping our session on May 11, when we received management’s initial economic responses (which would continue to sink our wages at SMMC far below market rates throughout 2029), we reflected on the progress we have made so far on the non-economic sections of our contract. We wrapped up all but a handful of articles in just our first few days and decided that now might be a good time to strategize around our key priorities:

  • A contract that rises to current health care union contract standards

  • A contract that values the lifesaving work we perform

  • A contract that guarantees strong competitive wages for all job classes throughout the next several years

And lastly—doing all of this as quickly and productively as we can because we know our union siblings at the Medical Center are relying on our work at the table to secure the raises desperately needed to recruit and retain talented workers, and of course, to keep up with the increasing cost of living in our region.

To this end, our team gathered all the open items we had on the table, including non-economics, pay premiums and differentials, health insurance benefits, and wages, and built a comprehensive package proposal. This proposal must be accepted or rejected by the Employer in its entirety; otherwise, we have the ability to revert to our previous iteration of each proposal. We feel confident that this package will (a) illustrate to the Employer our dedication to reach an Agreement sooner rather than later, and (b) meet the expectations and needs of our coworkers stated above.

Because this package proposal took several hours to compose, it was only ready to bring to management in the late afternoon, and therefore we did not get a formal response before concluding negotiations for the day. That said, we are eager to return to the bargaining table on June 9 and look forward to continuing the fight for all Professional, Technical, and Clinical Support health care workers at St. Michael Medical Center!

To learn more about ongoing negotiations and discuss strategies to stand together for a fair contract, join our next Contract Action Team meeting.

Contract Action Team Meeting

Tuesday, May 26
4pm - 5pm
Zoom
Meeting ID: 863 0290 8542
Join Zoom Meeting >>

Bargaining Team: Robel Haile, Clinical Pharmacist; Bryson Andrews, ED Tech; Olivia Almeida, Respiratory Therapist; Merry Brandt-MacFann, CT Technologist; Lara Williams-Graham, Certified Surgical Technologist; Angela Roberson, EP Technologist; Rob Shauger, CNA