Now It’s Your Opportunity at Sierra Providence to Join With Us!
What SEIU Members Have Negotiated
- Higher wages
- Guaranteed yearly raises
- Pay scales that reward years of service
- Benefits protect by contract
- Fair scheduling
- Staffing and patient care committees
Because SEIU members have a strong, united voice at hospitals throughout the country, we’re able to sit down at the table with management and negotiate contracts with major improvements. The pandemic and recent inflation have made it crystal clear that — now more than ever — a union will provide hospital employees with critical power in bargaining to protect and advocate for ourselves, our families, and our patients.
SEIU members at Providence Memorial recently reached an agreement that includes:
- Guaranteed 8% raises over 3 years.
- A minimum wage of $12.50 an hour.
- Employer cannot increase employees’ health insurance premiums more than 1% a year.
- 401K protected.
At four Tenet hospitals throughout Florida, SEIU members recently negotiated contracts that include:
- Raises of up to 11.5% over 3 years.
- A bonus at the beginning of the contract of up to $800.
- Wage scales based on ALL previous years of experience, including at non-Tenet facilities.
- No wage caps.
- Protection of a free individual health insurance plan.
- For other health plans, the hospital can only raise costs by 1% per year.
- On-call pay of $3.50.
- Requirements for management to fix PPE shortages promptly and follow CDC guidelines.
SEIU: The Largest, Strongest and Most Effective Healthcare Union in America
SEIU Texas represents more than 5,000 workers, including CNAs, techs, professionals, RNs, and service workers at Providence Memorial Hospital, Las Palmas Medical Center, University Medical Center, Del Sol Medical Center, and Corpus Christi Medical Center.
SEIU Texas is part of the Service Employees International Union, which represents over 9,000 healthcare workers at 24 Tenet hospitals — and a total of more than 1 million healthcare workers — throughout the country. We are a union of, by, and for members, and our mission is to win better wages, benefits, and the working conditions we need to provide the highest quality care for our patients.
Next Steps for Joining SEIU
1) SEIU and Sierra-Providence have jointly announced that we have an agreement to ensure that employees can decide whether they wish to be represented by a union.
2) SEIU members from other facilities will be available to give you the facts about joining us. You can talk about the union with co-workers at work, or with union representatives, and will have access to information through a variety of other ways.
3) If enough Sierra-Providence employees choose to fill out an authorization card, a secret ballot election may be held.
4) If the majority of votes cast by employees are in favor of joining SEIU, you would then elect a committee of coworkers, supported by SEIU staff, to sit down with management and negotiate a written contract. Your union contract could guarantee wages, benefits, job security and working conditions. In other words, you would have a seat at the table and a unified voice on the job.
5) Then you would vote on whether to accept the agreement, and have the security of a union contract!
Q & A:
A union is simply an organization formed by a group of employees who join together to have a strong, united voice at work. Without a union, management has the power to make changes to your wages, benefits, working conditions, and terms of employment without consulting you first. When employees form a union, we sit down with management and negotiate over our compensation and working conditions, which are then guaranteed in a written contract. In other words, there’s power in numbers, and forming a union means having a seat at the table for a better, more secure future.
YES! Over 9,000 Tenet healthcare workers have united in SEIU at 24 hospitals across the country, including at Providence Memorial. They have negotiated strong contracts with substantial raises, protected benefits, a fair disciplinary process, and a voice in staffing and patient care.
We are a union of, by, and for healthcare workers, and all the major decisions are made by us. We elect our coworkers to negotiate our contracts with the help of union staff, we vote on all our contracts, and we elect stewards to represent us on the job. In other words, the union is US, the workers at Providence and other healthcare facilities.
Of course. Union members negotiate with management over wages, hours, and working conditions as a group rather than individually, but members are still able to talk directly with their managers about most issues. Union members maintain good working relationships and communication with our managers. In fact, we’ve found that forming our union with SEIU has vastly improved communication with management, because we are able to sit down together and solve issues related to pay, benefits, staffing levels, scheduling, workplace safety, and patient care. Also, we have a clear, written contract that everyone can refer to and follow.
Dues for SEIU Texas members are 1.75% of regular hours worked, with a maximum of $25 per pay period. Dues are the way that healthcare workers pool our resources together so we have a strong union and can win better pay, benefits, safety, staffing, and job security. As with all major decisions in our union, the amount of dues is decided by the overall membership.
Historically, strikes are rare in the healthcare industry. They are always a last resort tool for workers to make our voices heard, and there are many other ways for healthcare workers to hold employers accountable. No one can force workers to go on strike, a strike can only be decided by a super majority vote of members. In the unlikely event a strike is called, a 10-day notice is given to the hospital to ensure safety and quality of patient care.
As healthcare workers, we need to make sure we have a strong voice with elected officials so they listen to us, hear our perspective, and address our concerns. So many decisions about healthcare are made by the government — from funding for our hospitals, to scope of practice, to patient and worker safety. Under the law, there are restrictions on spending dues dollars for political purposes, so many union members choose to voluntarily contribute to a separate fund that is used to advance the interests of healthcare workers and our families in local, state, and federal government.
Right-to-Work laws provide workers with the option to decide whether or not they want to pay union dues and become a union member. The more workers who become members, the more strength we have to fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Without a union, employees are “at-will,” meaning that management has the ability to fire an employee for any reason, at any time, and without warning, so long as the reason is not illegal. When workers have the protection of a union contract, management has to follow a fair disciplinary process and employees have the right to representation. The final decision about disciplinary actions may be decided by a neutral arbitrator.