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Date: 12/5/2023
NORTHAMPTON — Members of the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East voted unanimously to ratify a new contract that includes an average wage increase, ways to address recruitment and retention and other major bonuses.
The new contract, which comes after a year of negotiating, will affect 600 workers at Cooley Dickinson.
“I’m really excited that we finally got a win after an entire year of bargaining,” said Wendy Morin, a patient care technician and unit secretary at Cooley Dickinson.
The ratified contract comes after hospital workers and members of the union picketed outside of Cooley Dickinson Hospital on Oct. 6 with hopes of securing better wages and more favorable working conditions.“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with SEIU 1199, which represents many of our dedicated health care workers,” said a spokesperson from Cooley Dickinson. “This agreement was a collaborative effort, which reflects our shared dedication to improving patient care and addressing the needs and concerns of our colleagues. We are proud of this milestone and excited to continue our ongoing commitment to provide exceptional care to our Pioneer Valley community.”
Under the new terms of the agreement, incumbent workers will be making no less than a minimum wage of $18 per hour by July 2024, and longtime workers will receive step increases to recognize their years of experience.
The agreement also says that workers will see an average wage increase of 21% over 20 months, and full-time workers were awarded a $1,000 ratification bonus, which was prorated for part-time workers.
Aside from those improvements, the contract also includes a 43% increase to weekend differential, four additional holidays and a 44% to the call rate. These particular changes are expected to help retention and recruitment at the hospital.
Morin also added that “racist justice language” was added to the ratified contract.
“We fought hard to have racial justice language included in our contract, while management tried to downplay its necessity and have it removed. I’m proud to say we were able to keep it,” Morin said.
A Cooley Dickinson spokesperson had this to say about their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion: “Cooley Dickinson’s commitment to DE&I is unwavering, and fundamental to our organization’s values. While there is much more work to be done, we have demonstrated that commitment far beyond words through actions like Mass General Brigham’s United Against Racism initiative.”
Tim Foley, the executive vice president of 1199SEIU, illustrated the importance of finalizing this ratified contract.
“This hard-fought agreement is a victory for not only the caregivers at Cooley Dickinson and those they care for, but for the future of care in Western Massachusetts,” said Foley. “To keep high quality care accessible and address the staffing crisis impacting communities all across the commonwealth, we need to ensure that healthcare workers can afford to stay and thrive in the jobs and community they love.”
In an interview with Reminder Publishing before the contract agreement, Nicole Foote-Stephenson, an administrative organizer from the union, said that the union was working without a contract all of 2023 after their contract expired in January. She added that the union was in contract negotiations with Cooley Dickinson, a member of Mass. General Brigham, for over 10 months.
Marta Anex-Schnauss, a behavioral health technician at CDH, wrote in a Facebook post before the October protest, that MGB was offering “cents on the dollar” in negotiating for wages of essential staff, including environmental services, emergency department technicians, personal care assistants, phlebotomists and kitchen staff.
According to Anex-Schnauss, only four out of 30 environmental service staff positions are filled at the hospital, which means the rest of the cleaning falls to technicians, personal care assistants and nursing staff.
Foote-Stephenson said there are times when there is only one personal care assistant available to take care of 32 patients, which means patients are not receiving the care they should be.
“A lot of the staff, they go home and they’re so upset because they couldn’t give their best to their patients,” Foote-Stephenson said, at the protest in October. “Patient care has definitely suffered a lot. That’s why we’re out here.”