Swedish and SEIU 1199NW are ready to negotiate wages, benefits and other issues for R.N.s, technical staff and service workers. The opening session will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, May 3. Our current contracts with SEIU 1199NW will expire on June 30, 2011. During these negotiations, Swedish is committed to working with SEIU to come to a fair outcome for all who count on Swedish – employees, patients and the community. Swedish Edmonds and SEIU 1199NW will have separate negotiations, which are on a later timetable with different issues being negotiated. Swedish Edmonds will begin negotiations with SEIU 1199NW in the next month or so.
Swedish has worked hard to strengthen its relationship with SEIU since the last negotiations. In fact, we have collaborated on a number of initiatives, outlined below, which provide a strong foundation for contract negotiations.
- Organized a labor management assessment and summit with labor relations expert, Larry Fox who helped Swedish and SEIU recognize that they have many of the same goals
- Created a combined (All Bargaining Committees) labor relations committee
- Developed a nationally recognized training program
- Collaborated on employee wellness initiatives
- Identified other collaboration opportunities related to healthcare policy
Swedish is committed to communicating openly and transparently during these negotiations. The following communications tools will be available to you:
- Negotiation News - As in years past Swedish will produce Negotiation News after each bargaining session and at key milestones. Negotiation News will be distributed via e-mail to all employees and will also be available on-line
- Swedish.org/negotiationnews – New this year is a designated negotiation news section, a regularly updated resource where you can proactively access the following information online:
- Negotiation News, an archive of all issues
- Names of individuals on Swedish’s bargaining team
- The bargaining schedule
- FAQs and other background information
Swedish.org/negotiationnews will also allow employees to submit questions and comments. Submissions that are on topic and in keeping with Swedish’s social media policy will be posted online for others to view. (All submissions will be read by Swedish’s bargaining communications team regardless of whether they are posted.) View Swedish’s Social Media Policy [www.swedish.org/socialmediapolicy].
Swedish’s Bargaining Team
- June Altaras– Nurse Executive, First Hill
- Laura Boyd – Director, Compensation and Benefits
- Linda Carrol – Manager, Cherry Hill Medical Imaging
- Sarah Haeger - Communications Specialist
- Candi Johnson – Director, Nutrition Services
- Otto Klein – Chief Negotiator
- Cary Natiello – Director, Strategic Human Resources Partners and Labor Relations
- Melody Schlaman – Manager, Mill Creek Operations
- Joanne Suffis – Vice President, Human Resources
- Patrice Tynes – Director, Nursing Perioperative Services
Negotiations will be held at the Teamster’s headquarters located in Tukwila, Wash. The current bargaining schedule is as follows:
- Tuesday / Thursday, May 3 and 5
- Wednesday, May 11
- Tuesday / Thursday, May 17 and 19
- Wednesday, May 25
- Tuesday / Thursday, May 31 and June 2
- Tuesday / Thursday, June 7 and 9
- Tuesday / Thursday, June 14 and 16
- Tuesday / Thursday, June 21 and 23
- Thursday, June 30
