FAQ: Joining SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

• How does forming a union improve employees’ relationship with management?
• How does a union contract give employees a voice?
• How do employees negotiate a contract?
• What kinds of improvements have health care workers won by joining together in a union?
• Other that negotiating a contract, how else do SEIU health care workers gain a voice on the job?
• Why should we join SEIU 1199NW?
• How much are dues? What do they pay for?
• Who makes the decisions in the union?
• What is the advantage of having many types of health care employees in one organization?
• How do we form a union where I work?
• How will management react if we try to form a union?

Without a union, managers control decisions about workplace policies, pay, and benefits. Sometimes they ask for employee input, but major decisions are made by management alone.

Employees can to try to make their view heard as individuals, but a single voice isn’t very powerful. By joining together to form a union, employees speak with a collective voice about their issues and concerns.

When employees work together in a union, they sit down with management to negotiate a common understanding about policies and issues at work. Having a union improves dialogue between management and employees by creating an environment of mutual respect.

A contract is an agreement between employees and management that spells out clear policies on issues like:

• Wages
  
• Pay raises
  
• Differentials
  
• Certification pay
  
• Health care benefits
  
• Vacation
  
• Longevity pay
  
• Sick leave
  
• Scheduling
  
• Retirement
  
• Training
  
• Workplace safety
  

One big advantage to having a contract is that it includes legally-binding guarantees. Once management agrees to provide raises or a certain amount of vacation time, it can’t take away a scheduled pay increase or make changes in vacation policies without getting employees’ approval.

Negotiating a contract is a participatory, democratic process --- every employee has a role to play.

Employees elect a team of co-workers from across the facility to represent them in negotiations with management. The team puts together a bargaining proposal based on input from surveys and meetings with employees across the hospital or clinic.

The bargaining team – with support from legal and negotiating experts from the union – meets with management over a period of time to reach an agreement on the issues.

Employees then have the final say. Once a tentative agreement with management is reached, employees have a chance to review it and ask questions. Then a vote is held — no contract can be accepted unless a majority of your co-workers vote to approve.

Having a real voice has allowed thousands of SEIU members to make our jobs better:

Improved pay. People don’t work in health care to get wealthy – most of us enjoy helping others get well. But it’s important that our industry pays competitive salaries that attract talented staff and provides an incentive for experienced employees to stay in health care.

Longevity steps. SEIU health care workers have won longevity steps – guaranteed raises based on years of service – to help reward skilled employees for their experience. Longevity steps provide people with an incentive to stay at the facility – helping create a stable, experienced staff of dedicated employees.

Secure benefits. Our family members get sick just like every one else’s, so we care about making sure we can we have affordable quality care for ourselves and our families.

Reasonable time off. Protecting adequate vacation and sick leave allows health care employees to stay healthy and spend time with our friends and families. SEIU members have also won protections against excessive mandatory overtime and other solutions on scheduling issues.

Better patient care. Patient care improves when employees have a voice in decision-making at the hospital. Frontline caregivers know better than anyone how to improve care and services for patients, and having a union creates a more effective way for us to give our input.

Flexibility. Having a union creates an environment where employees and managers are accustomed to solving problems together. A relationship of mutual respect between management and employees allows us to raise questions about patient care and other issues. The result is that employees have much more flexibility when it comes to improving the work environment.

Having a union allows health care workers to create new avenues of communication between employees and management, like:

Union-management committees. Most SEIU contracts create committees that allow employees to sit down with management to solve problems as they come up. Many contracts set up special committees that focus on a particular issue – such as staffing – that employees want to have an ongoing voice about.

A fair system for resolving differences. SEIU contracts also create a “grievance procedure.” An employee who has a disagreement with a management decision can turn to an appeal process, As part of this process, a neutral third party can be called in hear both sides’ opinions and issue a binding decision.

SEIU 1199NW is Washington State’s strongest health care union, with over 20,000 health care workers standing together for quality care and quality careers .

As members of SEIU – the Service Employees International Union – we’re also able to draw on the combined strength of health care workers across the country. SEIU is the largest of health care union in the nation, with more than 710,000 members working in every area of health care – including doctors, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, therapists, pharmacists, social workers, imagers, technicians, mental health workers, transporters, laboratory staff, home care workers, clerical and maintenance staff, certified nursing assistants, emergency medical technicians, dietary and housekeeping staff, and others.

Having so many health care employees united together has made SEIU a powerful advocate for health care workers in Olympia and Washington, DC.

Dues pay the costs of building an effective organization.

Dues are 1.5 percent of your gross monthly pay, with a cap of $75/month.

Employees who form a union don’t pay dues until they have negotiated and voted to approve their first contract.

Dues pay for our education and training programs, negotiating expenses, newsletters, office expenses, and salaries for officers and a full-time staff who provide research, organizing, communications, and legal support for the union.

The members do. SEIU 1199NW is run by members through a strong democratic process. Members elect our own worksite leaders, a union-wide executive board, and our local union officers. We vote to approve our contracts, our dues structure, and all other major decisions in our organization.

Most health care jobs are team-based, and patient care quality improves when every part of the team is strong. Cutbacks and staffing shortages in one department or job classification can ripple across the facility and weaken care and services for patients in other units. It’s important that employees speak with a united voice about our problems and concerns.

Having a united organization for everyone allows employees to make sure that every part of the patient care team has a voice in making decisions about the future of their facility.

The first step is for employees to form a committee to share information with co-workers about forming a union. The committee then leads a campaign to gather a majority of employees’ signatures on cards or petitions to show support for forming a union.

Once a majority has signed on to show they want to form a union, employees can ask their management to recognize the will of the majority and agree to open negotiations for a contract.

Or, employees can ask to hold a secret ballot election to vote to officially form a union.

Most employers are used to having the power to make decisions without employee input. It’s typical for employers to be hesitant about opening up decision-making to employee involvement.

But it’s important to remember that forming a union will improve patient care and employee-management relations in the long run. Every employee has the right to help form a union. Ultimately, the decision about forming a union is made by employees, not managers.

Frequently, the management of a hospital will claim that a union is a “third party” that will divide employees from the hospital. But the reality is that forming a union allows employees to build a clearer line of communication directly to the key decision-makers in management.