Respect UW Caregivers

This year, over 4,000 of us in our union from Harborview Medical Center and UW Medicine-Northwest Hospital are bargaining our new contract that respects our work and our patients.

We just experienced the hardest year of our careers, but through it all we did everything we could to provide the best quality care to our patients, even in conditions of inadequate PPE and short staffing. During contract bargaining this year, UW Medicine administration has the opportunity to respect our sacrifice, protect us and our patients from COVID-19 and future pandemics, and pay us what is necessary to recruit and retain the top-quality caregivers our patients deserve.

Latest Updates

Actions

UW isn’t above the law: L&I says HMC illegally assigning mandatory call

We’re being made to work mandatory overtime due to chronic short staffing, a problem Harborview created well before COVID. Instead of fixing the problem they

October 20, 2021

Actions

We are Northwest Hospital: Taking action for a contract that puts patients first

With unity breaks, unit petitions, community banners and meeting with Governor Jay Inslee and preparing for our strike vote, our message is clear: Respect Us,

October 18, 2021

Actions

Sticker-up: Fixing staffing is a no brainer

We’re united to ensure each patient that comes to Harborview receives excellent care. When that can’t happen due to a lack of resources and short

October 14, 2021

Actions

Unity break and march: Don’t profit from our short-staffing

We’re bringing solutions to the bargaining table NOW because our patients can’t wait for UW Medicine to finally settle a contract that invests in their

October 7, 2021

Actions

We will vote as a full membership starting October 27

UW can either bring proposals to meet our and our patients’ needs, or we will move forward with a vote to authorize a strike. UW

September 28, 2021

Actions

We took action for ourselves, our patients, and our communities

In our largest action ever, we took our demands of equity, recovery, safe staffing, and competitive wages for each of us to our community. Thousands

August 5, 2021

UW Must Respect Healthcare Workers

More than 3,000 community members are standing with the frontline healthcare heroes at UW Medicine.

Seattle Times print edition, Aug. 1, 2021

Respect us, protect us, pay us

Our vision for a contract that serves all of us

“This year has really shown that each member of our healthcare team is essential and valuable and we cannot accept UW Medicine treating some of our coworkers as less essential and less worthy. I want to bargain a better contract for ALL of my coworkers and I want to keep our standards and salary competitive. That is the way that we will keep Harborview a great place to work, where we have enough staff to give quality care and where those staff feel safe and valued.”

“Since we joined the union, pharmacy techs have worked to make sure we have good and fair wages. We’ve made progress but we still have a ways to go. In our new contract, we need to fight for wage parity across the UW system and wages that make working at Harborview and serving our community a choice that makes sense for everyone.”

“This last year has been difficult, we have dealt with a pandemic, staffing shortages, and being furloughed to meet UW’s financial goals. Together we kept each other and our community safe. Administration needs to show us the respect we all deserve. Let your voice show management we are united, strong, and determined to be heard!”

“We spent the last year coming to work during a global pandemic. We’ve been through redeployment and furloughs. We have staffing shortages because our management doesn’t want to pay us what other hospitals in the region do. People are leaving for huge signing bonuses elsewhere, and travelers are working beside us getting paid double. Management needs to pay us the wages we deserve.”

“Thank you to everyone who took the time and completed the proposal surveys. We feel confident with the issues you want represented during our contract negotiations and that your voices will be heard. It is important to send management a strong unified message that WE ALL agree these issues are important to us. One day longer, one day stronger!”

“It is very important that we all voted on our proposals because it is our voice saying that we agree and support the items that we need to care for our patients. Your active support give us the momentum to have a stronger position of power to negotiate a great contact for everyone.”

“Staffing is a huge issue we must address in bargaining. Short staffing results in falls and infections, and the CNAs get the blame. This is not the quality patient care we want to give. Our matrix doesn’t account for the acuity of our patients, but even if we manage to convince the charge that we need an extra CNA because of the acuity, then we can’t get someone to come in with no incentives. We spend the most time directly caring for our patients, and we need management to show us the respect we deserve.”