Our UW Medicine- Harborview Medical Center bargaining team, nurses and healthcare care workers united in SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, reached a contract agreement with management last week that will bring significant improvements to our Harborview community.
Our unified strength in advocating for our patients and families allowed us to enhance patient safety and improve industry standards. The new contract includes:
- A commitment from management to improve staffing by providing break relief nurses for every acute care unit on day shift by June 2017. This will allow nurses to take needed breaks, keeping us refreshed, while making sure there are enough nurses on the floor to cover for us.
- Good wages for everyone in our bargaining units in our two year contract, keeping Harborview competitive with other hospitals and.
- Market-driven wage adjustments that will improve recruitment and retention for the critical job classifications that were below market rate: social workers, electroneurodiagnostic technologists, healthcare specialists, and research and Hall Health nurses.
By standing together not only did we prevent any takeaways, but we took critical steps forward for quality healthcare and an improved work environment.
We thank our community supporters for your commitment to nurses, healthcare workers, our patients, and our community during this bargaining effort. Standing in solidarity with us as we worked to show how seriously we take patient care and Harborview’s mission was vital for our morale during a challenging time.
Together we showed what we can achieve for our community when we stand together as healthcare advocates. We look forward to continuing working together!
You can find our new Harborview contracts here.