A contract victory for NUHW at Hazel Hawkins
In June, 175 of us at Hazel Hawkins voted to join NUHW.
Now we are celebrating bargaining a great three-year NUHW contract at our hospital.
Our settlement, which we are scheduled to ratify on December 4th, contains these important highlights:
- 13.5% in wage increases over 3 years (retroactive to July, 2012)
- re-instituting full step increases
- a ban on subcontracting
- improved job security provisions
- binding arbitration over staffing
- an increase in the employer’s contribution to our pension
- an increase in shift differentials
We knew that joining NUHW meant that we would control our union again, and we got straight to work and won this agreement over nine bargaining sessions. Our employer knew that we were committed to winning the kind of victories that other healthcare workers in NUHW have won, including our neighbors at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.
Like so many others in NUHW, we bargained a contract with economic improvements and no takeaways. In contrast, every single contract SEIU has bargained since trusteeship has contained takeaways. In fact, at our hospital, for years SEIU-UHW failed to win the arbitration of staffing and a ban on subcontracting that we won just six months after we joined NUHW.
We have a simple message to workers stuck in SEIU: “We bargained a great contract in NUHW; you can, too! The first step is to get out of SEIU.”
Sincerely,
Patsy Myers, EVS, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital
National Union of Healthcare Workers