MultiCare Auburn Medical Center RNs - Case Manager Accretion - Tentative Agreement Reached! Contract Vote Scheduled

Following eleven bargaining dates over the course of nearly six months, our Case Manager RN bargaining team at Auburn Medical Center are overjoyed to announce that we have reached a fully recommended tentative agreement outlining our proposed entry into the RN union contract.

At our last scheduled session on January 22, we met MultiCare at the table, and proudly announced that we’d secured a supermajority of strike pledge card signatures in our unit. Pairing this with discussions around our continued priorities in these negotiations—MultiCare requested an emergency bargaining session on Monday, January 27 to get back to the table as soon as possible and continue working towards a deal.

Considering the many challenges we’ve faced throughout bargaining, our solidarity and resolve have led to what we strongly believe is a groundbreaking agreement for Case Manager RNs at Auburn Medical Center, including:

• Experience credit towards placement on the RN wage scale

• Access to premiums, differentials, daily overtime, and all of the union protections contained in the RN contract

• Protections around Case Manager RNs floating into other clinical areas of the hospital

• A specific wage differential for Senior Case Manager RNs

RATIFICATION BONUS!

To read the full agreement and cast your ballot, we encourage all newly-organized Case Manager RNs to drop-by our vote meetings!

Monday, February 10
MultiCare Auburn Medical Center
Cascade Training Room

• 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM

• 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM

Your AMC Bargaining Team: Sarah Murry, RN; Amber Hamilton, Case Manager RN; Nicole Joseph, Case Manager RN; Cory Larsen, RN; Nick White, RN; Mary Lou Gustafson, RN.

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center RN & RN Case Managers Bargaining Update - THINGS ARE HEATING UP!

Our bargaining team for Auburn Medical Center RNs and RN Case Managers met with MultiCare on Thursday, January 2, marking the eighth day of negotiations this cycle.

Following our previous session with management on December 11, and a highly attended Contract Action Team meeting on December 16, our team was empowered and eager to continue pushing for a strong contract that reflects the hard work and dedication of Auburn Medical Center nurses.

After much anticipation spent awaiting management’s responses, our team was presented with an economic offer from MultiCare that we feel continues to undervalue our nurses by raising their previous proposal by a mere half of one percent—bringing the new total to 7.50%.

Even more concerning, MultiCare’s proposals for across-the-board wage increases in Years 2 and 3 of our contract (3.00% and 2.75%, respectively) are not only well below current market standards but could further widen the gap between the wages of Auburn Medical Center nurses and those at competing King County hospitals.

Another major point of frustration is MultiCare’s continued rejection of our proposal for a Staffing Premium—contract language that mirrors agreements in place at two other MultiCare hospitals. Despite extensive discussion, MultiCare claims they are “unsure how to implement and track” the premium at Auburn Medical Center... puzzling, considering they have successfully implemented similar provisions at their other worksites.

Overall, we feel MultiCare is not acknowledging the realities of the nursing wage market in King County. As a result, we spent the rest of the day on January 2 planning the next steps to stand together and demand change, including holding an Informational Picket at the Medical Center.

If MultiCare doesn’t see our value, then we will make sure they see OUR SOLIDARITY!
 

INFORMATIONAL PICKET:

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center
Thursday, January 16, 2025
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

RSVP Here >>

& Join our Picket-Making-Party on January 13 from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM:

UFCW 3000 Office
23040 Pacific Highway South, Des Moines, WA 98198
 

PRE-BARGAINING DROP IN MEETINGS:

Join us for a 30-minute drop-in meeting before each day of negotiations from 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM

Click Here to Join >>
 

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Your Bargaining Team:

• Nick White, RN

• Nicole Joseph, Case Manager RN

• Sandy Hegg, Case Manager RN

• Cory Larsen, RN

• Sarah Murry, RN

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center RN & Case Manager RN Accretion - BARGAINING UPDATE - November 13, 2024

On Wednesday, November 13 our Auburn Medical Center RN and Case Manager RN bargaining team met with MultiCare to continue negotiations on our contracts at our fifth session with management.

After three sessions without a response to our initial proposal to welcome the Case Manager RNs into our union, we were excited to see that at our previous session management came prepared with a proposal on their placement on a wage scale & how years of nursing experience would factor into their union rates of pay.

However, management's proposal introduced some new challenges—for instance, the proposed Case Manager wage scales they presented differed from the wage scale in the main union contract; and although the wage scale for Case Managers appeared higher than that in the nursing contract, management later clarified that this is because Case Manager RN's years of clinical nursing experience are not counted one-for-one when figuring out where we would be placed on the wage scale. Additionally, MultiCare proposed a new set of premiums specific to Case Managers, such as shift differentials and a weekend premium, but at rates lower than those in the nursing contract. We ultimately felt that these differing wage rates, premiums, and experience calculations were designed to create a division between Case Managers and the rest of the RN unit. In response, we presented counterproposals in the afternoon that would align Case Manager compensation with the main nursing contract—ensuring that experience is recognized consistently, that wages are aligned more with the RN wage scale, and also rejected the proposed lower premium rates.

"Despite what we feel are efforts to divide us, we feel more united than ever before!"

—Nicole Geff; Case Manager RN

Meanwhile for the RN contract, we also began our morning reviewing the latest set of proposals from management at our previous session. We are glad that in some areas of the contract we are making progress on getting to a final agreement with the employer, however many our highest priorities remain on the bargaining table as open issues for continued negotiation:

SAFETY:

• Maintaining free on-site parking, and working to secure language around transportation safety for nurses who have vehicles broken-into or damaged in the on-site garage.

STAFFING:

• Updating our contract language to reflect the new hospital staffing law in Washington State, and pushing for additional compensation for nurses who care for additional patients above what the hospital staffing plan permits.

WAGES:

• After receiving management's initial wage proposal at our last session—we were disappointed to see that their offer only provided a three percent (3%) increase in the first year of our 2024 contract—which doesn't even compete with the wages that nurses are earning in a number of Pierce County MultiCare hospitals.

We know that it would take more than twice that percentage—around 7.00%—to get us up to market with many other MultiCare nurses—so we hope management come to our next bargaining date on November 21 with a serious proposal that pays nurses at Auburn Medical Center for the lifesaving care we provide every day.

"Hopefully MultiCare find the rest of the budget for their next wage proposal!"

—Cory Larsen; RN

CONTRACT ACTION MEETING

To learn more about our ongoing negotiations, and to team up with our union siblings in the Service Unit with SEIU, join your bargaining team for a UNITY BREAK:

MultiCare Auburn Medical Center Cafeteria
Wednesday, December 11
7:30AM – 8:30AM