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Taking action protects our health benefits

Through persistent lobbying by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members and other state employees, we protected our health benefit package through next year.

In January, when the state Legislature convened, there was a strong push by many lawmakers and editorialists to force state employees to accept yet more sacrifices on benefits. Legislators said that with a huge state budget deficit, it would not be possible to stabilize our benefit plans with new funding.

We mobilized by the hundreds; lobbying, writing emails and making phone calls to our legislators. We told them about recruitment and retention problems, the sacrifices state employees have already made, and the need to support, not blame, state employees.

In the end, because of our advocacy we achieved a victory that most political pundits thought was impossible: the final state budget includes $65 million in new state funds, which should be enough to stabilize our current benefit package through 2011.

Lawmakers protected our benefits and vital healthcare programs by making tough decisions to raise nearly $800 million in new revenue. They closed “special treatment” business tax loopholes, and raised taxes on businesses, cigarettes, candy, gum and bottled water. Many of the new taxes are temporary, to help get our state through the recession.

SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members were part of a broad coalition of civic groups advocating for revenue and protection of our services, and against more cuts.

Our efforts are not over. Tim Eyman has announced he will try to rescind the new revenue measures through ballot initiatives this November. In order to protect our benefits and services, we likely will have to defend the state budget at the ballot box this fall.

We will be negotiating our premium share with the state this summer, in coalition with other state employee unions.

Scott Canaday“This was an important victory for us and other state employees, many who had to give up their raises because of state shortfalls, when they were already so far behind the private sector. A strong union in tough times means using our collective voices in Olympia, lobbying our legislators, calling the hot line, writing letters and postcards, emails. Having the Healthcare leadership fund has been essential to ensure we have elected leaders in place that are going to support us on issues that are important to us such as State Employee Healthcare Benefits. The legislators votes on our issues were the right votes even if it comes at some personal costs to them. It took a strong union to win this victory and make no mistake, our union SEIU1199NW ‘IS’ a strong union.”

Scott Canaday, Medical Imaging Tech, Harborview Medical Center

Furloughs: We mitigated a bad idea

The new state budget aims to cut costs by furloughing state employees in the next year. SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members told legislators this was a bad idea. Through our advocacy and that of other state employees we were able to mitigate some of the worst aspects of the furloughs:
  • The number of furlough days was reduced from 16 to 10.
  • Most state employees are exempt, including all Harborview workers and most SEIU Healthcare 1199NW members in DSHS and DOH.
  • Agencies can propose other cost-saving measures in place of furloughs.

In the coming weeks we’ll be meeting with state officials to determine who will be subject to furlough. And we’ll be proposing alternatives to furloughs that harm patients and services.

Seattle Times Op-Ed: State employees are paying their share of health care

Seattle Times: March 10, 2010
Diane Sosne, RN, President of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW

SCOTT Canaday may have to choose between the radiation-therapy treatments he needs and paying his mortgage. If his health-care costs keep increasing, "I will pay my mortgage and have to skip treatment," he says.

Like so many of us, Scott is having to make difficult choices because his health-care costs keep rising.
Does Scott work for a struggling small business? A local retail outlet? A manufacturing company? No, Scott is a state employee, one of 110,000 public servants who go to work every day to provide us with health care, teach our kids, fix our roads and bridges, maintain our parks and keep our communities safe.

Sunday's Times article, "How state workers' pay really stacks up" shows that state employee wages aren't out of line compared with the rest of the job market. But the article left unchallenged the assertion that Scott and his colleagues have "a Cadillac health-insurance benefit."

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Secretary of DSHS 'walks-a-day' in the shoes of a Nurse Consultant

DSHS Sec Dreyfus with Katherine AnderNurse Consultants met twice with Secretary Susan Dreyfus to share concerns and offer solutions to problems they encounter day to day. To learn more about what it means to work as a Nurse Consultant and to see the kinds of homes available to adults in Washington, Secretary of DSHS Susan Dreyfus spent a day with our union member Katherine Ander who works as a Nurse Consultant for the Adult Family Home program. This gave Secretary Dreyfus a first hand view of a typical day.

Here is Katherine’s summary of the day.

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