SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

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Safe breaks mean safe patient care!

Our patients deserve safe and quality care, but as healthcare workers we know that fatigue is a significant factor in medical errors. Our union is working to pass legislation that would require hospitals to have staffing plans in place to allow nurses and healthcare workers to take breaks and meal periods, while ensuring continuous patient care. Our ‘Safe Breaks’ Bill has passed the House, and is now moving to the Senate.

Hospitals continue to oppose this legislation, saying it will require nurses and healthcare workers to leave their patients unattended. That’s not the case, and in fact, this legislation would require hospitals to have staffing plans that ensure continuous patient care.

We’re launching television commercials across the state in partnership with other unions to help educate our communities about why ‘Safe Breaks’ are so important.

Visit our ‘Safe Breaks’ website for more information to help the public understand why regular and interrupted breaks help us deliver better, and safer, patient care.

Group Health members :Information on retiree medical benefits

In October 2008 we voted to approve a new contract that included a change to the retiree medical benefit. Unfortunately, we now have a serious dispute with Group Health about this benefit.

Union members are signing on to a group grievance about Group Health's violation of the payout charts in our contract. Read the full story by clicking 'Read More'.

In addition, we are filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. We have the best chance of winning the best outcome for all of us by working together, and it is important for us to send a strong message to Group Health to resolve this issue. Please sign the web form by March 12. Contact the delegate in your workplace or call a union organizer at 425-917-1199 if you have additional questions.

Fight Healthcare budget cuts and protect patients

Gov budget Don Nancy Marcy

SEIU members joined together at the Capitol in early December to tell legislators that the 2010 proposed state budget will leave our healthcare system is in crisis. Mark your calendar for our February 11 Lobby Day to tell legislators that healthcare for our patients and families is on the line.

Under the governor’s budget proposal:
• 100,000 adults and children will lose access to their health insurance, leaving them uninsured
• 50,000 women lose maternity services for high-risk pregnancies, placing mothers and unborn babies at risk for complications
• Nearly 9,000 patients will lose community mental health services, leaving them on the streets without care
• 29,000 people will lose access to GAU, which is the last resource for the disabled, blind, and elderly.
• Rainier School will close early, and leave patients without adequate community support.
We need all solutions on the table, and the Governor plans to propose a revenue package that will help restore these programs. The Governor plans to propose restoring nearly $700 million in cuts, but it’s not nearly enough to prevent additional cuts this year.

This isn’t the healthcare system we want to see. This budget leaves families in crisis instead of helping them when they need it most.

2010 Election Notice for SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members

Every two years, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members elect our district officers and our co-workers for chapter leadership positions. Every member in good standing as of April 1, 2010 is eligible to vote. The election will be conducted by
mail.

Our Executive Board represents each of our union chapters. But more than that, it is a democratic body that upholds the
standards of our union and drives the growth and success of our organization. These elected leaders carry the goals of our union into our workplaces, and are an integral part of our collective success. Their leadership guides our financial decisions, and with their direction we have an ambitious plan to move our union forward and continue to win breakthroughs on affordable healthcare, career advancement, safe staffing, and secure retirement.

Click here for the complete 2010 Election Notice.

SEIU healthcare workers part of $4.6 million green jobs training grant

The Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP) was awarded a $4.6 million grant that will include funding for creation of a program in King County to train hospital Environmental Service Workers in green energy, waste monitoring, and green cleaning practices that will provide career opportunities for entry level workers. The Energy Training Partnership Grant is awarded through the U.S. Department of Labor, and is part of the $100 million in green jobs training grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

The project is a labor-management partnership that includes H-CAP, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, North Seattle Community College, and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County. It will affect over 400 unionized healthcare workers in King County and include better training for new employees and additional training for current workers in energy efficiency and improved cleaning of hospitals. Implementation is expected to begin within three months and will build a national training standard for energy efficiency, waste reduction, and environmental practices in the healthcare industry.

Building A Strong Future Together

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members recognize how important it is to have a strong union in tough economic times and voted 3,081 to 1,013 in favor of our union’s Strong Future plan. We voted across the state over a 5 week period in October and November with the polls open a cumulative 400 hours at over 80 locations in our workplaces across the state.

Many of our employers are freezing or reducing pay and benefits for non-union employees, and management has also asked some of our members to re-open our contracts to give back some of our hard-earned wages and benefits.

Our plan for A Strong Future will rebuild our union’s Strength and Defense Fund and provide member leadership training so that we can be strong at the bargaining table. The plan also includes the development of a nurse council and a tech council to bring together members across chapters to work on common professional issues. Service workers will also work together across chapters on staffing and safer working conditions.

“I have been with Group Health for over 30 years. Throughout these years, I have witnessed a lot of layoffs, cutbacks in hiring, wage concessions, closure of some departments, subcontracting of others, and threats of more. Knowing that we have a strong union helps me breathe easier. Belonging to a union is the greatest job security investment one can make at any workplace.” - James U. Ezeokeke, EVS, Bellevue Medical Center, Group Health Cooperative

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Multi-Employer Training Fund: Candace Picazo's story

Candace Picazo VMC

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW member Candace Picazo, a housekeeper at Valley Medical Center, is using our union’s Training Fund to advance her career and become a nurse.

American Radio Works profiled our union's Training Fund and member Candace Picazo this summer.

Read more about how this Training Fund is making a difference for healthcare workers, and listen to hear Candace’s story.

Speaker Pelosi visits Swedish Medical Center

Nancy Pelosi and Diane Sosne

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured Swedish Medical Center in Seattle with SEIU Healthcare 1199NW President Diane Sosne on Monday, November 9. Speaker Pelosi chose Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center for her first public appearance since the House passage of the healthcare reform bill because the hospital and SEIU members are already providing healthcare in many of the same ways that the House Bill proposes.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members from Swedish were on hand to hear Speaker Pelosi speak, including Lupe White, Medical Assistant; Don Miller, RN; Clarita Guanlao, Pharmacy Tech; Linda Arkava, RN; and Pam Keeley, RN.

Charting Nursing's Future: Addressing the Quality and Safety Gap

Here are two issues of Charting Nursing’s Future—a publication of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with reports on “policies that can transform patient care.”

Issue 10: Case Studies In Transforming Hospital Nursing and Building Cultures of Safety
Issue 11: How Nurses Are Shaped, and Being Shaped By, Health Information Technologies

Executive Board motion: Union Response on re-opening contracts

We have worked hard over the last 25 years to raise the standards for pay, benefits and job security for nurses and healthcare workers in Washington. We have also raised the respect and recognition for the important work we do for our patients.

But many of our hospitals are using the recession as a reason to ask us to re-open our contracts and give back some of our wages and benefits.

Our economy is in tough shape right now, but our industry – healthcare – is one of the strongest, and demand for our work is growing.

That’s why our union has not agreed to re-open our contracts to negotiate cuts to our pay and benefits when hospitals have asked us to. We don’t want to make permanent cuts to solve temporary problems. We don’t want to roll back gains that have taken decades to make and leave us unable to attract the workforce needed to care for our patients.

Instead, we are calling on all of employers to come together with us to stand up for affordable healthcare for all Americans. We need to work together to solve the healthcare crisis, not give in and make it worse.

Healthcare Reform Can't Wait:

Now is the time for healthcare reform, and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is helping to lead the way. As frontline caregivers, we see the impact this crisis has on our hospitals, patients, communities and families everyday – and that’s why we know we can’t afford to wait.

Linda Arkava (RN, Swedish Medical Center), Levorn Glover (Unit Secretary, Highline Medical Center), Tara Lerew (RN, Harborview Medical Center), and Maikele Mengesha (CNA, Northwest Hospital) are headed to Washington DC this Thursday, June 25 as part of a national Lobby Day to meet with our Senators and Members of Congress to lobby for healthcare reform.

Watch our video about why we're going to stand up for healthcare reform.

Safe Staffing Victory at Valley Medical Center: Watch the video!

Nurses at Valley Medical Center in Renton just reached an agreement with Valley Medical Center administration that will improve nurse staffing. Valley Medical Center will hire Designated Break Relief Nurses who will take care of patients while nurses take their breaks and lunches in the Med-surg, Renal Respiratory, Cardiac PCU, Oncology, Mother-Baby and Labor & Delivery, and CCU units. And, Charge Nurses wil be unassigned and not included in the staffing matrix, which means they’ll be available to provide valuable support and resources to our units.

Watch the video:

2009 Ruckleshaus Report on Nurse Staffing

Read the 2009 Progress Report of the Ruckleshaus Nurse Staffing Steering Committee.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a member of the Steering Committee, along with the WA State Nurses Association, WA State Hospital Association, UFCW 141, and the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives.

"We can't accept short staffing."

"My greatest personal reward is to help bring a new child into the world safely. I'd like every birth to be a safe one. But when we are short-staffed, our patients are at risk. As caregivers, we can't accept the risks that come with short staffing - and neither should our patients."

-- Konnie Campagna,
Registered Nurse, Valley Medical Center

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Share your thoughts

As members of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, we have a voice in what our future looks like.
Take a moment and tell us what you think.

Submit your ideas here.

Short-sighted cuts harm our community, cost us all more

Guest Commentary in Everett Herald by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW member Nancy Clark

For Barbara, the Serenity Clubhouse in Everett was a place where she could recover from her mental illness, gain job skills and confidence, and rebuild her life.

Divided We Fail: Diane Sosne

Theodore Roosevelt said it in 1917, and his words still ring true today. "Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action ... If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big."

For decades, Americans have received an earful of rhetoric about one of the most pressing domestic issues facing our nation -- health care. Rather than "act big," our elected officials have been content to stall, argue and blame each other over our nation's failure to secure access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans.

And while we've longed for meaningful reform, health care costs continue to skyrocket and thousands of Washingtonians are just one major illness or injury away from financial ruin. More than 700,000 Washington residents already lack health insurance, and the state is threatening to significantly scale back or eliminate a number of vital health care programs and services.

» Read more of this op-ed...

© 2010 SEIU - Service Employees International Union,™ CLC

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