Multi-employer Bargaining a first for our union

More than 6,000 SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members around Puget Sound will begin bargaining this week. Together we are setting out a new future for healthcare, with new standards for patient care and services, and respect for the work we do.

Overall, 15,000 SEIU Healthcare 1199NW nurses, techs, professionals ans service workers from Tacoma to Spokane will be bargaining this spring. Our bargaining priorities this year include Healthcare, Quality Patient Care and Services, Recruitment and Retention, Retirement Security, and Respect for our Organization.

Tell us - what does Quality Patient Care and Services mean to you?

Visit our 2008 bargaining page

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Watch the video: Quality care, quality pay

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members from Valley Medical Center, Valley General Hospital, Swedish Medical Center, St. Clare Hospital, and Stevens Hospital sticker up and take action for Quality Care, Quality Pay.
See photos from all 5 hospitals here.

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:

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SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members from DESC protest homeless sweeps

100 people, including SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members from DESC protested homeless sweeps in downtown Seattle. Workers, volunteers, and homeless advocates called upon the mayor to end sweeps and demand that the city fund more beds in shelters before enacting sweeps of homeless camps.

DESC workers recently voted to join SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, and have a strong commitment to ending homelessness. DESC members are committed to the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, and believe that sweeping camps is not the solution. Members are working for increased funding for frontline social service workers and the clients that we serve.

View coverage of this event, including an interview with Libby Solursh, an SEIU Healthcare 1199NW member from DESC.

Other coverage available from:
Seattle Times
Seattle P-I

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Author Suzanne Gordon speaks about safe staffing in hospitals

Suzanne Gordon

"Safety in Numbers" Author Suzanne Gordon spoke to SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members in Spokane and Seattle about the benefits and effectiveness of staffing ratios in California and the state of Victoria in Australia. Gordon discussed how hospital cost cutting and layoffs in the 1990s created larger workloads and deteriorating conditions for both nurses and their patients.

We have a plan to win safe staffing in our hospitals - more than 4,000 SEIU Healthcare 1199NW nurses will be bargaining this spring to strengthen staffing contract language. Nurses from Seattle-area hospitals discussed bargaining proposals as part of a panel discussion at the safe staffing event with Suzanne Gordon.

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SEIU endorses Governor Gregoire

Bev Barker, RN and Governor Gregoire

Citing Governor Chris Gregoire’s record of support on quality services for all Washington residents, the 103,000 members of SEIU in Washington, including child care teachers, nurses, home care workers, public school workers, janitors, and other announced their support today for Governor Chris Gregoire.
View a slideshow of photos from this event

“Chris Gregoire is the Healthcare Governor – she’s fought through red tape to ensure our kids have access to quality healthcare, and she recognizes how important safe staffing in our hospitals is,” Bev Barker, an RN and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW member from Swedish Medical Center said. “As a nurse, I see how Governor Gregoire’s work protects patients.”
View photos from this event

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Healthcare workers rally for Obama

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW President Diane Sosne meets with Governor Chris Gregoire, and Senator Barack Obama at the Seattle rally

Hundreds of SEIU healthcare workers gathered in support of Senator Barack Obama at Key Arena in Seattle. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW has recommended Barack Obama for president. "We're going to make sure our nurses aren't overworked, and we won't wait twenty years to do it. We'll do it by the end of my first term as United States president."

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2008 Legislative Report: Progress for Patients & Caregivers

Our hard work in the 2008 Legislative session paid off – our emails, phone calls, visits and targeted coalition work resulted in key victories for our members, patients and communities.

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"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

In housing we trust

"Hundreds of concerned citizens fanned out into our local community in the early hours of Jan. 25, counting people who are homeless. The preliminary estimate was some 8,600 individuals living in cars, under bridges, and in doorways, alleys, shelters and temporary housing — about 15 percent more than last year."
Read more of this op-ed by Bill Hobson and Diane Sosne in the Seattle Times

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW District-wide elections

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