OLYMPIA — It’s a deal one year in the making.
Nurses and caregivers across all Swedish Medical Center campuses, including the Edmonds hospital, have approved a new union contract, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Wednesday. Since talks started last April, all it took was a three-day strike in January, an intervention from the governor and a global pandemic.
“Now more than ever, we need to be one Swedish to support our patients, community and each other during this crisis,” Swedish CEO Guy Hudson said in a news release.
The new deal for nearly 8,000 employees represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW includes 13.5% raises over three years and a zero-premium health plan for employees earning less than $60,000, as well as $1,000 bonuses and benefits protections. Members started voting on the contract through video conferences shortly after the union announced it had reached a tentative agreement with Swedish on March 27.
The contract shows “real commitment” from Swedish management “to partner with nurses and caregivers to face present and future health care challenges together,” said Diane Sosne, a registered nurse and union president.
In February, the governor’s office got involved in negotiations after proposal swaps through a federal mediator failed. Inslee brought in Thomas Kochan, a world-renowned labor specialist from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
“Professor Kochan and (federal mediator) Beth Schindler did an impressive job of keeping people talking and all parties focused on the most important goal: a unified health care system to help us fight against this global pandemic,” Inslee said in the release.
The announcement comes as hospitals and clinics across the country grapple with the new risks and hurdles surrounding the new coronavirus.
In March, Swedish and the union agreed to 25% to 40% wage increases for employees who pick up extra shifts, as well as commitments to paid leave for nurses and caregivers exposed to the virus.
That doesn’t include hazard pay — raises for workers at greater risk of contracting the virus. Additionally, health care workers across the state and country are saying there isn’t enough personal protective equipment to go around.
“We cannot put a price on unsafe working conditions, and hazard pay does not make up for the lack of proper equipment and support,” the union, with other labor organizations, said in a news release Wednesday. “But it does reflect the lived reality that these workers are putting their health and their lives on the line to ensure that our entire state has a fighting chance to beat this pandemic.”
Joey Thompson: 425-339-3449; jthompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @byjoeythompson.
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