Samaritan Pacific reaches settlement after marathon 22-hour bargaining session

Just days before Samaritan Pacific workers were scheduled to hold an informational picket in front of the hospital, they reached a surprise settlement at 8 am after a marathon 22-hour bargaining session. The agreement includes

• 3% wage increases across the board in each year of the three-year agreement.
• Selective increases ranging between 4.7% and 19% for about 1/3 of the bargaining unit.
• Parity with other Samaritan hospitals in the Willamette Valley [Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, and Samaritan Albany General Hospital in Albany] for shift differentials by 2010
• Improvements to No Strike or Lockout provision
• No change to Grievance Procedure or Union Rights Provision
• Management agreed to attempt to have an additional Open Enrollment period for the Pilot Health Care Program (if approved by legal)
• Call Back Minimum Shift increased to 2 hours
• Improvements to Safety, Education, Subcontracting, Part Time employee health benefits, and Bereavement Leave

“We would like to recognize all of the hard work by our Contract Action Team and the outstanding support of our members.  In this round of negotiations we showed that when we are united we can win improvements for employees that will help improve recruitment and retention, as well as our ability to provide exceptional patient care for our community.”

—Your 2008 elected SEIU Bargaining Team: Jamie Auborn, Melissa Bedell, Art Lee, Joy Willey, Bob Diefenbach