St. Michael Medical Center RN - Tentative Agreement Reached

After six months of negotiations, your Bargaining Team was able to reach a tentative agreement with management on a new contract. The Bargaining Team is recommending the offer, which includes:

  • One of the highest wage scales in the state, exceeding St. Joseph Medical Center, Tacoma General Hospital, Swedish Medical Center, and most others! The 4.00% raises in year two and three will ensure that we’ll stay competitive throughout the life of our contract.

  • Significantly improved staffing language,

  • $3.25/hr charge nurse pay immediately! This is the highest charge nurse pay in the state (and 18% higher than St. Joes!).

  • Removal of ghost steps 17, 21 and 23 (steps with 0% wage increase),

  • Per Diem differential increased to 15% (and they will continue to receive holiday pay),

  • Double time when called back to work from standby during a holiday,

  • NEW B.S.N. / M.S.N. differential,

  • NEW language to prepare for the next public health emergency,

  • And much more!

While we were unable to get staffing ratios added into our contract, your Bargaining Team did win unprecedented staffing language that will help address the long-term issues at St. Michael Medical Center. However, the fight for staffing ratios is not over! Our Union is working to make staffing ratios state law, because every hospital across Washington State should be held accountable when they fail to provide high quality care to their community.

Our fight has also shined a light on the serious problems at St. Michael Medical Center. Our community, state leaders, and even Dignity Health have heard directly from nurses that our hospital is in crisis. We will continue to challenge those with authority to work on solutions to the problem that we cannot address in contract negotiations.

More information about offer and the upcoming ratification vote will be announced early next week.

Your Bargaining Team: Brett Moore, Cindy Franck, Kimberly Fraser McMillan, Michael Nord, Tammy Olson, and Janice Jones.