Providence St. Peter nurses stage informational picket as contract negotiations heat up

Employees at Providence St. Peter engaged in an informational picket Thursday afternoon outside the Olympia hospital, voicing their concerns about the possible elimination of accrued benefits, staffing shortages and expiring contracts.

The picketing was part of a larger, statewide showing by Providence nurses and other health professionals frustrated with negotiations that could erase millions of dollars’ worth of accumulated benefits that workers have in sick leave, according to Tom Geiger, a United Food and Commercial Workers union representative.

Informational pickets also were conducted in Spokane and Everett at Providence hospitals.

The St. Peter negotiating team has not yet proposed the elimination of accumulated benefits, but Andy Dusablon, a St. Peter critical care nurse and a member of the bargaining committee, said the proposal has been raised at seven units statewide during negotiations, and St. Peter nurses fear they’ll be next.

In their current contract, Providence nurses receive a certain amount of sick leave and vacation hours as well as extended illness benefits. If the proposal is suggested and then passed, nurses would switch from having sick and vacation leave to paid time off, which would eliminate the extended illness funds and any accrued leave from the old system.

“They would take that money that’s in the sick banks, stick it in their pocket, and then we would be left with a short term disability that pays out 65 percent after a week of being off,” Dusablon said. “It’s a huge concern.”

Dusablon said the picketing also was meant to show solidarity with those units already facing the proposed change.

Since the union’s last contract negotiations, Providence Health and Services merged with St. Joseph Health to become Providence St. Joseph Health.

“These are huge takeaways in light of the top 14 executives for Providence share $40 million a year. The CEO in 2017 had a 157 percent increase in his total compensation,” Dusablon said. “If they want to do takeaways like this, they shouldn’t look to us.”

The union emphasized that an informational picket is different from a strike: Workers use them as a way to inform the public and develop support, but they are not intended to dissuade people from doing business at the organization.

However, Geiger said an informational picket at a health-care facility is an elevated status in bargaining and a fairly high level of action.

Providence spokesman Chris Thomas said that St. Peter and the UFCW21 union are actively bargaining to reach a contract that is agreeable to both parties but are in the very early stages of negotiations.

“The informational picket is not the result of anything that has been presented at the bargaining table,” Thomas said in an email to The Olympian. “Providence respects that today’s activities are part of the bargaining process.”

Many employees are working on extended contracts that would have expired in March, if the extension had not been filed.

Thomas described the negotiations as being “collegial” and a “partnership” so far. He also said the hospital encourages union leaders and caregivers to focus their efforts on productively reaching agreements.

Dusablon also wants to reach an agreement, but emphasized the negative impact the proposed change would have on nurses.

“We need sick time and vacation to recuperate from this job,” he said. “I work 12-hour shifts. It’s a traumatic job at times and you need to decompress and have time off.”

Both Thomas and Geiger emphasized that the picketing would not affect patient care at the hospital. Geiger said the union provided the required 10-day notification of the picket. Thomas confirmed that no caregivers were missing shifts.

As for the next steps, nobody can be sure.

“Unfortunately the employer in this case doesn’t yet seem to be willing to come to a reasonable compromise,” Geiger said. “It’s hard to tell how it will go.”

Dusablon hasn’t ruled out a strike.

“Obviously not our first choice. It doesn’t help the patients, doesn’t help the nurses, but we’re willing to move there if need be,” he said.

This story was originally published June 27, 2019 at 3:55 PM.