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.
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Executive Board Motion: Union Response on Re-opening our Contracts
We believe that now, more than ever, health care advocates – including our union, consumers, and employers – need to work together for meaningful healthcare reform that will ensure universal access to quality, affordable healthcare. We recognize the fact that reform will need to include transforming the health care delivery system, focusing on wellness, prevention, and chronic disease management and reducing overuse of emergency rooms.
At the same time that national healthcare reform has been advancing, our state has had to confront an unprecedented financial crisis. Our healthcare safety net faces huge cuts in the months ahead, challenging all of us.
As this crisis in healthcare has deepened, in the last several months some of our employers have approached our Union asking to re-open contracts in order to institute wage freezes or other economic concessions. These employers have cited revenue/budget problems.
We recognize that times are tough for everyone. Indeed, the challenges that the healthcare system faces are systemic not isolated to specific health care institutions such hospitals, clinics, home care and mental health agencies. We are seeing layoffs in many institutions. Our DSHS/DOH members received no across-the-board wage increase, and our mental health members face wage freezes – and even employer attempts to roll back wages, which we must reject.
Therefore, we as a union need to respond to requests from our employers to reopen contracts systemically – in a unified way, not chapter-by-chapter.
The challenges facing our healthcare system are not the result of the wages paid to frontline workers; the challenges are based on a combination of problems with reimbursement, lack of state and federal funding, administrative waste, profiteering by insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and the lack of coverage for millions of people.
Therefore, cutting or restraining wages for hospital, clinic, and home health employees does not address the problem, and is not an appropriate solution.
Rescinding negotiated wage increases would not lead to greater stability. It will not improve job security and it will not ensure financial health for our employers.
Accordingly:
- We will not re-open contracts to rescind negotiated wage increases or to negotiate concessions at this time.
- We call on our employers to deepen their work with us to win health care reform that ensures everyone has health care coverage. And we’ll continue to work with employers on both short- and long-term revenue solutions to fix what ails healthcare. Specifically, we call on our employers to convene labor-management committee meetings to consider action steps to take to win healthcare reform and adequate funding.
- We will work together to decrease waste inside our institutions, often best identified by front-line workers.
We are standing up for our patients and quality care by ensuring a quality workforce.