You might see picketers today outside a Tacoma hospital. Here’s what’s happening
A union representing MultiCare workers announced an informational picket Wednesday (June 12) in Tacoma amid contract talks launched earlier this year.
The picket was scheduled from 4-6 p.m. outside MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The action, organized by UFCW 3000 members, comes amid bargaining talks involving more than 2,000 MultiCare employees across nine bargaining units. The talks started in February.
The union contends the health system has fallen behind area hospitals’ wages and benefits while “executives attempt an aggressive statewide expansion,” according to Wednesday’s union announcement about the picket.
In response to questions from The News Tribune, MultiCare said in a statement that the health care system “believes in paying market-competitive salaries and benefits. We must also ensure our services remain affordable for patients and that our hospitals remain fiscally sound so that we can continue providing health care services to the community.”
It added that it had “proposed across-the-board wage increases in addition to market increases for specific positions.”
A May 31 UFCW 3000 update called MultiCare’s wage proposal “sub-par.”
The union pointed to expenditures involved in the addition of new clinics and freestanding emergency departments in the area, as well as the addition of new hospitals and expansions at other sites.
MultiCare’s most recent groundbreaking of a new emergency department occurred earlier this month in Bremerton. It will be the system’s sixth in Washington state, developed in partnership with Texas-based Emerus Holding Inc.
The Bremerton facility will operate under Tacoma General Hospital’s license, according to MultiCare, and is anticipated to open next year.
MultiCare also is in the process of building a new Mary Bridge site in Tacoma and new tower at Good Samaritan in Puyallup, and recently announced a new partnership with Bellevue-based Overlake Medical Center & Clinics.
Patricia Brown is a licensed practical nurse at Tacoma General and a member of the UFCW 3000 bargaining team. She said in a statement this week that “We want to ensure that all our MultiCare facilities are well staffed, that experienced workers can remain in their careers at MultiCare, and that people working in health care have access to affordable health care themselves.”
“I’m worried colleagues will leave for better pay and benefits elsewhere,” she added. “If MultiCare can afford all this growth, buying up new facilities left and right, can’t they afford to treat us fairly?”
In addition to wage concerns, union members are seeking language in their contract “that would make health care more accessible for MultiCare workers, many of whom face financial and bureaucratic barriers to getting care on the company plan,” UFCW 3000 said in its announcement.
The current contract talks involve UFCW-represented workers at sites including Tacoma General Hospital, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Allenmore Hospital and Auburn Medical Center.
MultiCare, in its statement Wednesday, said, “Our top priority is a fair contract that supports staff as well as patients and the communities we serve. MultiCare remains committed to bargaining in good faith with UFCW with the goal of reaching a fair contract that supports a safe, equitable and economically sustainable workplace.”
It added, “Tacoma General Hospital is open and serving patients today while UFCW exercises their right to picket.”
