Some Progress, But Still Apart on Some Major Issues
At a recent round of bargaining on March 3rd, our union Bargaining Team and Management made more progress, but are still far apart on several major issues. In late February, Service/Engineering & Office and other Clinic contracts expired, Pro/Tech & LPNs from the Hospitals had expired earlier. At that time we became 2,000 strong.
Reasonable people should find reasonable solutions to these difficult issues. Some of the members on our Bargaining Team will join with the Pro/Tech & LPNs bargainers on March 11th to meet with Management to see if together we can find solutions.
Below are the main issues keeping us from an agreement:
| Wellness – Our Bargaining Team has said that we are not, in principle, opposed to a wellness program. Many UFCW 21 members participate in wellness programs. But the program should reward not punish. | |
| MultiCare wants to charge people an extra $30 each month if the employee and/or their spouse/partner do not take the wellness health survey. This would mean single employees would pay an additional $360 out of pocket each year. |
Our Union proposal would eliminate the deductibles for employees who take the wellness health surveys. This would save employees $400 for employee only and $800 if the employee and partner/spouse take the survey. This is the difference between punishing and rewarding |
| Medical Cost – In addition to the wellness portion of health care, there are important differences between Management’s proposal and those of our Union: | |
| MultiCare wants employees to pay $15 each month for employee only coverage without any assurance that the plan won’t change during the contract or costs won’t rise for those with dependants. | Our Union proposal has been to accept the $15 a month only if MultiCare agrees not to raise the cost of coverage for anyone with covered dependants and that MultiCare agree not to change the plan for the life of the contract. |
| Fair Elections – This would be a pre-agreed to process for your not-yet-union co-workers who want to join the union to be able to do so. | |
| MultiCare has insisted that they don’t even have to talk about this because it is not a mandatory subject of bargaining. But many enlightened employers have come to an agreement on this issue with their employees. |
Our Union has talked with Management about some principles that guide fair elections. Some guidelines we have suggested to Management are:
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| In addition to differences on proposals, MultiCare has threatened to take away our gain share if there were a one-day strike. We believe this kind of a threat is illegal and the Union has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. Remember we will get to vote before anything can happen. Stay tuned. | |
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 Back row: Garry Hawkins, Gregg Barney, Veronica Burns, Tom Clark, Tim Smith, Kurtis Chaffin, David Fleishman, LeiAnn Wolf, Pam Blauman, Erin Adamson. Middle row: La’Chelle Connor, Bev Willoughby, Delores Dawson, Janie Brown, Sheila Whiteway, Christina Duenas, Karen Linse, Karrie Galaviz, Karen Dixon-Ezike, Kathleen Anderson. Front row: Erin McCoy, Janice Jensen, Donna Sharpe. |
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| If you have any questions please contact a Bargaining Team member or Pam Blauman at 206-436-6584 or 1-800-732-1188 Ext. 6584. |
