Nurses and workers at EvergreenHealth Monroe hold informational picket (Images courtesy of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW)
A group of local nurses says their jobs could be on the line if they don’t get the contract they want.
There are two issues facing the nurses and service workers at EvergreenHealth Monroe starting with the proposed 50-50 split of health care premiums, which would mean roughly $800 a month in additional costs just in premiums. The nurses say other facets of the care, like spouses and dependents or co-pays are still unclear.
Registered nurse and bargaining team member, Nancy Anderson, tells Northwest Newsradio an R.N. could barely afford that, but for the service workers, whom she says were originally offered a 2-3% raise she says it would basically wipe out the 17-18% raise they’ve already bargained, which Anderson says would put them on par with workers in the same jobs at EvergreenHealth Kirkland. “I don’t even know how they could afford it,” Anderson says, “but we’re really trying to fight for them as well, and management does not seem to want to really budge whole lot on that.”
Anderson says management is also trying to eliminate “successorship” language from their contract, which would protect the contracts they bargain if Evergreen’s expected move from an “alliance” to a full takeover of the Monroe facility does happen. Anderson says without the language, their jobs and shifts could change and they could be forced to move their jobs to Kirkland.
EvergreenHealth sent the following statement to Northwest Newsradio:
“We are currently in the process of collective bargaining with SEIU. To date, we have met at the table for a total of 15 sessions and await SEIU’s response to our proposed dates for our next session. We continue to participate in good faith collective bargaining, and remain optimistic that we will have collaborative conversations at the bargaining table, while moving to an agreement that both parties can be proud of.”
There’s a tentative date for talks to resume in June, but no actual date has been set.
