MultiCare

MultiCare Doctors on Strike: Join UAPD on the Picket Line!

We will strike all represented Indigo locations from Monday,
November 23, at 8:00 am to Tuesday, November 24, at 8:00 pm.

Join our picket lines!

November 23rd, 2020

Tacoma General Hospital
315 M.L.K. Jr Way
Tacoma, WA 98405,
from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

MultiCare Indigo Tumwater
704 Trosper Rd SW #118,
Tumwater, WA 98512
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

MultiCare Indigo Puyallup
15125 Meridian E STE 102
South Hill, WA 98375
From 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

November 24th, 2020

MultiCare Indigo James Center
1812 S Mildred St Ste H
Tacoma, WA 98465
From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

MultiCare Indigo Burien
15870 1st Ave S #106
Burien, WA 98148
From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Unionized Physicians and Advanced Providers Win Back their Time and Money!

The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) demonstrated its power to affect positive change in its first two contract negotiations in Washington state.

Stalled in bargaining for two years with the Multicare health system, UAPD members of the Legacy Urgent Care centers had enough. They organized a large informational picket with other labor groups in Washington. After peppering the employer with notices, flyers and news articles about a humane closing policy Multicare acceded to UAPD’s demands just before the scheduled picket. They agreed to allow urgent care physicians and advanced providers to leave at the end of their twelve-hour shifts. This concession is a major victory for the safe delivery of urgent care in Washington state and beyond.

In another equally historic contract victory, UAPD persuaded Multicare to eliminate its salary withhold policy for physicians at Auburn (WA) Medical Center. The draconian salary withholds of 10-20% are a common practice for health care system employers in Washington and the rest of the US. The employer typically holds back a portion of a physician’s salary “in escrow” until the physician employee satisfies certain performance criteria. Facing a formal unfair labor practice charge filed by UAPD, Multicare retracted their withhold policy in a mass memorandum to their employees. UAPD is continuing to break new ground and negotiate for better working conditions in other many physician contracts in California and Washington.

UAPD President Stuart Bussey, MD, JD summed up “…these two great accomplishments are but a preview of what unions can do for physicians and providers in both private and public health systems. Our contracts improve patient safety and prevent physician burnout. It’s beyond time to organize and take back our profession from employers with a weak moral compass.”

MultiCare Providers Stand Together for Patient Safety

Hundreds of physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners at the Legacy and Indigo urgent care centers and Auburn Medical Center (AMC) in Tacoma, Washington are standing together to protect the health and wellbeing of Tacoma residents, and improve deteriorating working conditions for healthcare providers.

The three units, all members of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), have been bargaining with MultiCare, the $2.4 billion-a-year healthcare corporation that owns Legacy, Indigo and AMC, since June 2017, but the company has yet to address the providers’ serious concerns regarding patient care and staff safety. After coming to the table multiple times it’s become clear that MultiCare has not been bargaining in good faith on these issues.

Citing practices that “put profit before patient care,” UAPD members are demanding that the healthcare giant address policies that impact patient care such as staff retention, inadequate staffing levels and consistently overworked staff. These issues have led to astronomical turnover rates, unpredictable facility closures and chronic short staffing. All are contributing factors to what providers see as a declining standard of care in MultiCare facilities.

Providers will be holding MultiCare accountable both at the facilities and in a growing social media campaign.