UFCW 3000 Member Story: Madison Derksema

Madison Derksema, Pharmacy Tech at Seattle Children’s Hospital and UFCW 3000 Member!

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for another #MemberMonday story! This week’s spotlight is on Madison Derksema, who is a pharmacy tech at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Madison simply gets things done. Her coworkers agree: their department is a better place to work because of her efforts. Since starting her job in 2018, Madison has truly stepped up: first as a shop steward, then as a member of her department’s Contract Action Team (CAT), and most recently as a member of the contract negotiations team!

During contract negotiations, Madison pushed hard for two additional & specific pay differentials for her department. She also fought back against inequities in the advancement process, helped file grievances, advocated for COVID safety protocols, and is now working to streamline the vacation request process to include greater transparency. At the negotiations table, Madison always asked management the tough questions!

In addition to all of these fabulous accomplishments, she regularly informs her coworkers about their rights at work, benefits, and protections as union members. She also recently joined the Health Care Advisory Board (HCAB)! Beyond that, Madison is empowering her coworkers to come together to advocate for the solutions they need to make their workplace more fair and just for all.

Her leadership is making Seattle Children's Hospital an even better place for workers, patients, and our communities; Madison — thank you for all of your hard work!

Seattle Children's - Contract Ratified

We are excited to announce that UFCW 3000 members at Seattle Children’s Hospital overwhelmingly voted to ratify their new collective bargaining agreement!

This historic agreement includes unprecedented wage increases (retroactively paid back to January 31), a significant increase to the per diem wage differential, increases to several differentials, contractual language improvements for a more equitable workplace, and many other improvements.

If you have any questions about your new contract, please reach out to a workplace steward or Union Representative Christie Harris at (206) 436-6606.

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Tentative Agreement Reached

We are excited to announce that your bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with management on a new collective bargaining agreement for UFCW members at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Your bargaining team unanimously recommends a “YES” vote!

• The proposed changes to your contract include:

• Historic wage increases that lead the market and will help with staff retention and recruitment,

• FULL RETRO PAY back to January 31,

• Per Diem differential increased from 10% to 15%,

• Increases to several differentials including the night shift differential, 

• Juneteenth as a new paid holiday, 

• New Pharmacy Technician premiums when performing compounding or tech-check-tech assignments,

• New promotion language that ensures a fair process when moving to a level two or three position (with retroactive effect), 

• And so much more!

The full details of the offer will be made available during our online vote meetings on Monday, April 11.

Join Our Online Vote Meeting!

Monday, April 11

• 9:00AM – 11:00AM

• 7:00PM – 9:00PM

https://zoom.us/join

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

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 Tuesday, April 12 from 6:00AM to 8:00PM. 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, please visit ufcw21.org/update-your-information and update your information. If you do not receive an email to vote on Tuesday April 12, then please reach out to Union Representative Christie Harris *206-436-6606 to provide an updated email address. 

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

Our SCH 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 

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Our Pressure Is Working

On March 16 our team met with management for another collective bargaining session. We were pleased to see that our pressure in the field is starting to yield results as we were able to come to tentative agreement on many of our outstanding non-economic issues. Management provided us with an economic counter that made some progress towards the wages we need but feel short of addressing all of our economic concerns. In particular, management again denied providing much needed premium and differential increases, adequate individual and across the board wage increases, a competitive per diem premium, giving us more control over how our benefits are altered, and solutions to issues with our Time Away banks. 

On March 28 our team met with management again for a short joint session. Here our team provided our latest economic counter, which included both the wages increases we need and realistic proposals that would address all of the other outstanding economic issues we face. 

We will be meeting with management again this Thursday, March 31 for another collective bargaining session. At this meeting we hope management provides a holistic economic counter that includes solutions to all of our important concerns and ensures real top of the market wages for the life of the new contract. While we hope to be able to secure a full agreement in this meeting, we have made it clear to management that we will not settle for a contract that falls short of fully addressing the issues which are causing the current staffing crisis. 

Please keep an eye out for more updates following our next session. 

If you have any questions about bargaining or want to learn more about how you can help our team at the table, please contact 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

“Today some movement was made but not enough to settle. We work at a premier children’s hospital and we deserve a fair contract. We will not stop until we get our members the contract they deserve.”

— Ashley Strickland, Respiratory Transport

Our SCH 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 

Seattle Children’s Hospital - It’s Time to Show Management We Are Serious

“We need to stand together United and show SCH what we are worth and that we deserve market wages and standards for recruitment and retention to adequately care for our patients.”

-Tyler Schaffer, Anesthesia Tech

On March 4, our Bargaining Team met with Management for another collective bargaining session. While we were able to work together to reach some tentative agreements on critical non-economic issues, even Management acknowledged that we are still very far apart on economics.

Our team proposed an economic counter which retains our priorities of market leading wages, premiums, and differentials, as well as the other economic issues that affects our total compensation such as parking costs, vacation time caps, sick bank balances, our health insurance costs, and our retirement plans. This is in stark contrast to Management’s recent proposals which amount to little more than just inadequate wage increases.

Our team knows we need strong, market leading wages increases as well as improvements to the rest of our economic issues if we are going to stop losing more of our coworkers every single day.

In order to get Management to understand the urgency of addressing all of these issues, we need to act! We have recently released a petition which clearly outlines what we need in our next contract and why we need it. If each of us along with all of our coworkers, friends, and family members are able to sign, it will send a powerful message to Management which they can’t ignore: We need a fair contract that creates real change and puts an end to the staffing crisis.

Please take a moment to sign our contract electronically. The petition is also available in paper form for members to sign. Contact our Bargaining or Contract Action Team members if you would like to sign it that way instead.

With our coworkers and allies behind us, we hope that in our next session on March 16, Management will provide a real response to our economic proposals. Stay tuned for more updates following that session.

If you have any questions about bargaining or want to learn more about how you can help our team at the table, please call our Union Rep Christie Harris at 206-436-6606.

Bargaining Team: Matt Brabant (RT Educator), Madison Derksema (Pharmacy Tech), Angela Ballard (Surgery Tech), Kellie Koenig (Ultrasound Tech), Tayler Schaffer (Anesthesia Tech), Ashley Strickland (Transport Team), Tesfaldet Kidanemariam (Respiratory Therapist)

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.

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 

Seattle Children’s Hospital - We Need an Answer!

Yesterday, February 1, 2022, our team met with management for our sixth negotiation session. Given that the Hospital has been celebrating the $1.4 billion dollars in donations they recently raised, the over $79 million dollars in federal grants they have received over the pandemic, and dire urgency of the ongoing staffing crisis, we were eager to see management’s response to our massive wage and premium increase proposals from our last session. 

Unfortunately, management disappointed us again and didn’t provide us a response on these important issues. We didn’t let this slow us down however, and we came ready with another robust set of proposals on many of the other economic improvements our workplace needs. Our second package covered a range of issues our team has heard our coworkers need addressed, including:

• A large retention bonus that would be offered to everyone

• The creation of a new vacation cash out procedure which would keep us from losing pay when the hospital denies our time off requests, along with language that would allow each department to modify the vacation request procedure to fit their needs

• A significantly higher employer matching percentage for our retirement fund

• Language to ensure that when we move up a level in our job title (i.e. ST I to ST II, RT I to RT 2, ect) we keep our years of experience the same, along with a separate agreement that would ensure workers who were left behind in the past are caught back up

• Language to make sure that opportunities for advancement in job title are equitably offered

• A higher Per Diem Premium

• Comprehensive parking language that would make parking on campus cheaper or free in many situations 

• Expansion of when we can receive overtime pay

• Guarantees that the benefits (like our health insurance, retirement fund, parking discounts, etc.) cannot be changed unilaterally by the hospital

• And much more

Unlike management (with their extremely weak and wildly inadequate wage proposal) we know that the hospital needs to make huge improvements to our compensation in order recruit and retain the workers needed to get out of this staffing crisis.  The economic package we proposed yesterday, combined with our top of the market wage and premium proposals we made in our last session would result in the single biggest set of improvements to our union contract ever and enable us to have the staffing levels we need to give our patients the best care possible. 

In our next session on Tuesday, February 8, we plan to propose the last couple of economic proposals; with that everything should officially be on the table. We hope that in this session, management will finally show us they understand the magnitude of the crisis we are in and come ready with serious responses to our economic proposals. We are currently under a contract extension through 2/28/22 but time is running out. Every day that goes by without these improvements we lose more talented coworkers. We can’t wait any longer.

Please join us for our upcoming Contract Action Team meeting tomorrow on Thursday, February 3, where we can discuss our economic proposals in more detail and will talk about what we can do to ensure we secure the wages and other improvements to our working conditions we need. You can RSVP for our meeting using the following link: 

If you have any questions at all, please call your Union Rep Christie Harris @ 206-436-6606*

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

“We are holding firm. We want to make sure we get employees the benefits and wages that they deserve. Our goal with this contract is to retain our current employees and attract new hires. We will not back down!”

— Ashley Strickland, Respiratory Transport

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 

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Our Wages are officially on the table

Hear from our Bargaining Team about negotiations!
Thursday, February 3 @ 11 AM
>> RSVP HERE >> to get Zoom meeting details emailed to you.

“The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the status of our staffing. In some departments, the turnover is higher than 25%. A lot of employees are going on a traveling job because they’re underpaid and a lot more are needing to leave. We proposed competitive pay at SCH to fix this problem.”
-Tesfaldet Kidanemaria, Respiratory Therapist

Yesterday, January 25, our team met with Management for our fifth bargaining session. Management provided us with some counters to our non-economic proposals and we gave them the first half of our economics, which contained our initial wage and premium increase proposals.

It’s no secret that the hospital is currently experiencing a massive staffing crisis—a direct result from the criminally pitiful wages they pay us for the lifesaving work that we do. Day in and day out, each of us give our all to our patients, each other, and the hospital, going above and beyond by working longer hours, picking up extra shifts, and taking on duties outside of the roles we are paid for. We are specialized medical professionals, putting our lives on the line every day during this pandemic and giving up crucial time outside of work with our own families, all to keep the hospital functioning and make sure our patients get the care they need. But we are at a crossroads. We cannot continue to do this work unless there’s a significant change in how we are treated. We’ve heard our coworkers’ concerns over the last week and we know that Management’s wage proposals are nowhere near enough. The hospital needs to value us in the way that we value the kids we care for. We deserve better.

Getting out of this crisis will take bold action, so yesterday, we proposed historic, industry-leading wages for every single job classification. Unlike Management’s proposal (which would only bring us a little closer to the wages of other local hospitals), our wage proposal would skyrocket us to the top of the market immediately. We also proposed to get rid of the “ghost steps” in our current contract, to make sure we all see significant wage increases every year. In addition, since we strongly disagree with Management’s argument that our below market premiums and differentials don’t need to be increased, we also proposed industry-leading increases to all premiums and differentials. In particular, we proposed robust increases to the on-call/standby premium and raised the amount we receive when we are called into work. With top of the market wages and premiums, Seattle Children’s Hospital could recruit and retain new hires to fill the open positions as well as make it possible for those of us already here to stay long term.

Management’s stunned reaction at the table to our proposal shows us that we still have a long way to go. Our team is fighting hard at the table to convince them that these big changes are necessary, but we can’t win these much-needed wage and premium increases alone. We must stand together and demand that Management swiftly end the staffing crisis and provide the relief we desperately need.

Call Union Rep Christie Harris @ (206) 436-6606* today to ask how you can become more involved in what’s happening at the table and learn how you can join our upcoming Contract Action Team virtual meeting on February 3 @ 11 AM, where we can discuss the details of our economic proposal.

At our next bargaining session on Tuesday, February 1, we plan to offer the rest of our economic proposals on topics ranging from Time Away to overtime. Keep an eye out for the update afterward!

*Note: This is an office land line phone number and cannot receive text messages.

Bargaining Team: Matt Brabant - Respiratory Educator; Madison Derksema - Pharm Tech; Angela Ballard – Surgical Tech; Kellie Koenig - Ultrasound Tech; Ashley Strickland - Respiratory Transport; Tyler Schaffer - Anesthesia Tech; Tesfaldet Kidanemariam - Respiratory Therapist

Seattle Children’s Hospital - IT’S NOT ENOUGH, WE WON'T BE FOOLED

“Today, Management gave us a starting point to work from and although it is not close to where we want to be we know with your help we know we can get the strong wages we all deserve!”

-Angie Ballard, Surgical Tech

Yesterday, on Thursday, January 20, our Bargaining Team met with Management for our fourth negotiation session. We started the day by providing a set of strong counter proposals on a variety of non-economic topics then management gave us their economic proposal.

While at first glance Management’s proposal can seem promising, a closer look shows that it is still woefully lacking. They claim it would provide an average 8% wage increase on top of a 2.25% wage increase across the board increase Year 1, however this is misleading. The reality is that this “average” is extremely skewed by the fact that only a handful of positions, one’s that were left behind by Management in our last negotiations, would receive large wage increases; everyone else would only see meager increases. What’s even worse is that almost all of the increases they proposed, including the larger ones, would only serve to bring our wages to just below market for hospitals in the area and comparing us to non-specialty hospitals is like comparing apples and oranges. On top of all of this, they claim their focus on wages means we don’t need to the improve other economic elements of our contract (premiums, differentials, Time Away accruals, parking costs, insurance costs, etc) despite the fact that the hospitals they are comparing us to have better benefits in each of these areas.

We won’t be fooled. Seattle Children’s Hospital needs to do better. As specialty hospital we provide care which is unparalleled in the local area and requires additionally levels of training and competence compared to these non-specialty hospitals. As a result, we believe our wages, premiums, differentials, and other economic benefits should lead the market, rather than trail behind it.

In our next session on Tuesday, January 25, we plan to provide our robust economic counter to Management. This will include market and industry leading wages for all of us as well as substrative increases to the other economic elements of our contract Management wants to leave behind.

Now more than ever, our Bargaining Team needs your help to win a strong contract. We need stand together and show Management that it will take more than just inadequate wage increases to fix the massive staffing crisis we are facing!

You and your coworkers can get more involved by coming to our Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings where we discuss what’s happening at the table in more detail and talk about the upcoming actions we are planning. Our next meeting is this coming Monday, January 24 at 4:30PM, RSVP to join the Zoom meeting at: https://bit.ly/SCH-CAT

To learn more about how you can stay informed and help our team at the table please call you Union Rep Christie Harris at (206) 436-6606 and follow our Instagram page @schworkers.

Hear from our Bargaining Team about negotiations! RSVP to get Zoom meeting details emailed to you!
Monday, January 24
4:30 PM
https://bit.ly/SCH-CAT

Bargaining Team: Matt Brabant - Respiratory Educator; Madison Derksema - Pharm Tech; Angela Ballard – Surgical Tech; Kellie Koenig - Ultrasound Tech; Ashley Strickland - Respiratory Transport; Tyler Schaffer - Anesthesia Tech; Tesfaldet Kidanemariam - Respiratory Therapist

Seattle Children’s Hospital - Bargaining Update

“Even though things are looking optimistic this is not a time for us as to back down and settle! We as union members need to continue with our unity and show our strength even more so with current staffing shortages and ongoing health crisis.”

-Tyler Schaffer Anesthesia Tech

Yesterday, Tuesday January 4, our Bargaining Team met with Management for our third bargaining session. We presented almost all of our remaining non-economic language proposals and provided counters to many of what Management gave back to us. This means that the way is now clear for us to begin negotiating economic issues next session.

Management presented the diversity and inclusion policies Seattle Children’s is implementing. While we like the idea of what they told us they were working on, we know that their words and promises only hold weight if they commit to being held accountable for addressing the significant equity issues the hospital continues to face daily. Management has to practice what they preach and accept our trailblazing equity and inclusion proposals— which would force them to be accountable to us as workers, and make sure we are part of the decision-making process. We hope to receive a positive response to this proposal next session.

Overall, we were happy to see that Management seems to have changed their tune, doing away with their unfair package proposals and instead presenting individual counters on most of the outstanding proposals we made. Management even went as far as to finally acknowledge that we are in a massive staffing crisis. We know that fixing this requires bold wage increases and other economic incentives, so we again hope that Management’s words translate into real commitments in our contract.

This shift is the direct result of the strong actions, like our recent sticker-ups, that we are taking in the field. Management is finally starting to see we are all unified and willing to take bold actions get a fair contract. We need to keep up the pressure by participating in more upcoming actions, making sure coworkers are connected to what is happening with our negotiations by following our Instagram (@schworkers), and joining our Contract Action Team (CAT). There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines!

Call your Union Rep Christie today @ (206) 436-6606, to ask how you can join our CAT, find out how you can get more connected with our campaign updates, and learn what you can do to help empower your Bargaining Team at the table.

Our next negotiations session will be on Tuesday January 20. Keep an eye out for future updates and a summary of our proposals.

Bargaining Team: Matt Brabant - Respiratory Educator; Madison Derksema - Pharm Tech; Angela Ballard – Surgical Tech; Kellie Koenig - Ultrasound Tech; Ashley Strickland - Respiratory Transport; Tyler Schaffer - Anesthesia Tech; Tesfaldet Kidanemariam - Respiratory Therapist

RSVP to our online Contract Action Meeting tomorrow:
Thursday, January 6
11 AM
https://secure.everyaction.com/zqqN-XRxcEemWs4O72fcQg2
RSVP to your meeting, and you'll get the details for your online meeting emailed to you.

We will be going into more detail about what happened at the table and how we can participate

Seattle Children’s Hospital Tech - Management Needs to Take Us Seriously

On Tuesday, December 21, our team met with management for our second session of joint negotiations. We were disappointed to receive a meek response to what we proposed last week. Management denied most of our strong lanaguage which included expanding access to union resources, an accessible new employee union orientation led by coworkers, limiting managements unilateral power over us, and fully integrating per diems into our union. Even worse, what could have been promising movement towards meeting some of our proposals was completely negated by the fact that their response was in “package” form, meaning that they will only accept these proposals altogether. Essentially, they are trying to force us to accept their bad proposals in exchange for some of our priorities. 

We are sad but not surprised to see that they do not want to fully incorporate the per diems into the union. Currently per diems do not have the same level of protection as other workers. They also cannot become stewards, bargaining team members, or even vote on our contract. This is a strategic move from management to divide us and weaken our union power.

We also did not hear back from many of our strong proposals that would improve the working conditions within the hospital including one would increase the equity that they claim to prioritize along and another that would decrease the cost of commuting to work. We need management to respond on all our non-economic proposals so we can move on to negotiate our economics, however, they have made it clear that is not their intention.

At the table we pushed back and told management that we won’t allow them to bully us into a bad agreement with this take it or leave it approach. We told them they need to meet us at the table as equals to negotiate a fair contract that addresses the real issues we face daily. 

Still, we know it will take more than our words at the table alone to change their minds. Management needs to see that we are ready to fight for a strong contract and that we don’t have time to waste playing hardball. We need to continue to talk with our coworkers and encourage them to join our Slack and Instagram(@schworkers) so everyone can be informed about upcoming actions we will take to show management we are serious! 

Our next bargaining session will be on January 4. Keep an eye out for more updates, including a summary of all the proposals we have put across the table so far! 

If you want to find out how to get more involved by joining the Contact Action Team or Slack, or you have any questions about bargaining, please call your Union Rep Christie Harris at 206-436-6606

“Today we saw that management is hoping to give us the bare minimum. It is more essential now than ever to be visibly united in front of management through actions and involvement of all departments so that we can garner power and demand the strong contract we deserve.”

— Kellie Koenig, Sonographer

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 

Seattle Children’s Hospital Tech - Bargaining Begins!

Yesterday, December 14, our team met with management for a productive first bargaining session. We presented management with a flurry of non-economic proposals spanning nine different articles of our contract. These proposals came directly from feedback we heard from our coworkers and aim to address many of the issues we have all been facing at work. 

This included a robust Union Access language proposal, which would ensure that every new hire gets a chance to learn about their union and every worker will be able to be kept up to date on what is happening with their Union; a complete overhaul of our Equal Opportunity language, demanding the management be held accountable to upholding the values of equity they say they are committed to; a new parking and transit policy that would make commuting to and from work significantly more affordable; and several other strong proposals. Management also gave us their initial proposals, which our team has started to work on responses to. We hope to continue making progress on these language proposals in our next session so we can clear the way for our extremely important discussion about economic issues. Keep an eye out for more updates as we have more information to share our next session on Tuesday, December 21. 

We invite you to join our second virtual Contract Action Team meeting, where we will talk about what’s happening at the table in further detail and explain what workers can do to help support our efforts at the table, tomorrow on Thursday, December 16 @ 3:30PM. 

“We proposed some highly requested changes today and we are tentatively hopeful that management will cooperate in passing these desperately needed proposals.”

— 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 

Seattle Children's Hospital - Bargaining Dates Scheduled

Bargaining at Seattle Children’s Hospital is just around the corner with December 14 confirmed as our first day of negotiations.

We have finalized our Bargaining Team and are working to schedule a proposal meeting prior to negotiations so that we can work on formalizing our proposed changes to the contract. As part of the process, we have requested that Management release the Bargaining Team for the proposal meeting so that we can effectively prepare for negotiations. While Management has agreed to release the Bargaining Team for a prep session, it took weeks of debate to fulfill such a simple request.

While not surprising, Management’s behavior even before our first meeting is a warning signal that shows us that we cannot expect them to be cooperative during negotiations. We have several critical issues to resolve such as ensuring that our wage scales are market competitive, addressing our staffing crisis, and fighting for fair and equitable treatment among many other important issues. If Management struggled to agree to a Bargaining Team prep session, we need to be prepared for a serious fight on everything else.

There are a few actions you can take to get ready:

The most impactful action would be to join your Contract Action Team (CAT) today by reaching out to a Bargaining Team member or your Union Representative Christie Harris. Having high involvement within your Contract Action Team is crucial in winning a strong contract. Attend regular CAT meetings to hear the latest updates regarding negotiations, plan actions to pressure Management, and get your co-workers involved. Our first meeting will be held virtually on December 6.

Sign up for a Steward training! Every department needs strong Stewards – both right now and between negotiations. In Steward training, you will learn your rights and protections and how to push back against unfair practices by Management. You will also learn how to represent a coworker in a disciplinary meeting and uphold your contract. To sign up for a training,go to: ufcw21.org/steward-training

We will be circulating Seattle Children’s Union buttons and stickers, as well as lanyards and more to your workplaces soon. Showing Union pride in the workplace shows Management that you are visible, you are unified, and it helps send a strong message to Management that you are ready to fight for a strong contract. We will be following up soon with days and times when everything is ready.

Get connected to the campaign through social media!
https://www.instagram.com/schworkers/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/schtechsunion/

Hear from the Bargaining Team about negotiations and join our online Contract Meeting:

Monday, December 6
4:30 PM
Contact your Bargaining Team or Union Rep for Zoom meeting details. Details will also be emailed.

For questions, please contact your Union Rep Christie Harris @ (206) 436-6606

Seattle Children’s Hospital- Urgent Care Medical Assistants NEW CONTRACT RATIFIED!

Seattle Children's Hospital UCMA - We Have Reached an Agreement! We Recommend a “YES” Vote!

When we started bargaining back in November 2020, management made it clear that they intended to give us more of the same in our first contract. They wanted to have all the power over our work, at the expense of us the workers. With a lot of hard work and the support of all of our co-workers, we were able to push back on management in order to demand and secure a very strong full contract! This includes:

• Monumental wage initial increases for across the board effective upon ratification

• Replacing the merit raise system with wage matrix that includes steps, where everyone is guaranteed two wage increases (combined average of 4.1%) every single year

• Guaranteeing that everyone’s wage placement is based on the same transparent factors.

• A retro bonus equal to 3.5% of our wages

• Juneteenth as a holiday

• Severence pay

• Increases to the per diem premium for current per diems to 12%

• Protections for every worker against unfair discipline

• A robust grievance process we can use to make sure our contract is respected

• The same full Union protections we would see in a standard Union contract

• Language protecting the various benefits that worked for us and enhancing the ones that didn’t

• And much more!

The bargaining committee recommends a “YES” vote on July 6!

Our Urgent Care Medical Assistant Bargaining Team: Wendy Rivas, Angie Acevedo, Joey Martin

Online vote is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6

We will be voting online via “SimplyVoting” on Tuesday, July 6 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM. You will be receiving an email from UFCW 21 via “SimplyVoting” with your unique login information. If you do not receive an email by Tuesday July 6, check your spam folder first.

If you have still not received an email, contact your rep Christie Harris @ 206-436-6606.

Seattle Children's Hospital Urgent Care - SCH Refuses to Extend Merit Increases to the Unit and Refuses to Add the Unit to the Technical Contract!

On December 11, the Bargaining Team met with Seattle Children’s Hospital. At the start of bargaining we reiterated to the Hospital that the Urgent Care MA’s wish to be added to the UFCW 21 Technical contract. We expressed to them that there are only 18 UC MA’s and the unit feels like we will be bullied into a weaker contract. Also we told them that we want the 3% merit increase like the rest of the non-union MAs and double time should also be extended to us. The team expressed the frustration of the unit and the low morale. The Hospital said they would look into extending double time for the UC MAs and would respond to us next week. But they said, they cannot agree to accreting the UC MAs to the Technical contract because our filing petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) identified the UC MAs as it’s own individual unit.

The reason we filed as a separate unit was because the Hospital was going to argue that we had to organize all the MAs at Seattle Children’s and not just Urgent Care MAs. We asked at the bargaining table if the Hospital would have argued that point if we filed an “accretion petition” instead of an “individual petition” and they refused to answer the question. Their silence is loud and clear! Yes they would have contested the “accreted petition,” which means that all MAs would have to organize. Instead of going down that path, we decided the most expeditious thing would be to file as an individual unit with the hope that they would add the UC MAs voluntarily to the Technical contract.

It is clear that they are refusing to add our unit to Technical contract, so our next option is to bargain a separate contract for our unit. Although this is not the most efficient option, it still gives us the opportunity to fight for good working conditions and wage increases! We will be looking at the Technical contract and WSNA’s contract to create a contract that meets our needs! This process can take anywhere from 10 to 12 months. In the meantime, the entire unit is considered union members, which means you have workplace rights under the NLRB. You can take part in concerted union activity, like wearing stickers, and can ask for union representation if you are disciplined or part of an investigation.

In this past session, we discussed two articles: union access/union business and union membership. We had a lot of conversation around these articles and had agreements around some items, but the Hospital proposed anti-union language which would weaken the strength of the unit.

Given these proposals from the Hospital, we need to start reaching out to other unions and community groups. We need to inform the public about the unfair treatment we are receiving from the Hospital since we unionized. SCH is hiding behind their good public image, so it is important we inform the public about their treatment towards their unionized caregivers!

We will be attending the Sno-Isle and King County Community Labor Council meetings to talk to union, community, and political groups. These meetings will be held over Zoom so you can join from home. In addition, we will reach out to religious organizations that are UFCW 21’s allies. If you are interested in participating, please contact the union negotiator, Evelyn Orantes-Fogel: eorantesfogel@ufcw21.org. Also if you have any other ideas or ties to worker friendly groups, please reach out to Evelyn or the Bargaining Team. Our next session will be on January 4. We will send an update out after our session.

In Solidarity, Your SCH Urgent Care Medical Assistant Bargaining Team: Wendy Rivas, Melissa Schultz, Angie Acevedo, and Laura Hollenbeck

Seattle Children's Hospital urgent care medical assistants

Seattle Children's Hospital END Techs Fighting for a good first contract

Welcome to our Union Seattle Children's Hospital END Techs

On Friday June 7, the END Techs at Seattle Children’s Hospital voted unanimously to join UFCW 21! Tech workers at Children’s just negotiated a strong new three-year contract with the hospital, but the Electroneurodiagnostic Techs were left out of the union. So they came together, got organized, and despite management’s best efforts, voted 14-0 to join UFCW. Congrats!