November 26, 2019

The following letter comes from the Providence United Coalition, which is a group of 20,000 nurses and healthcare workers in Washington State who are currently locked in battle for a fair contract:

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Dear member,

We are writing to inform you about our 20,000 workers who have formed the “Providence United Coalition” – which includes members of OPEIU Local 8, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, UFCW 21 and the Washington State Nurses Association – and their fight for a fair contract.

Our Providence St. Joseph Health nurses and healthcare workers across the state are there on the front lines taking care of us and the people we love. They are there to keep families safe and healthy. They are there to console patients and families, to greet a newborn into the world, to hold the hand of a dying soul.

Every day, Providence caregivers put their hearts and souls into providing safe, high quality care. However, at many facilities these same Providence caregivers are faced with the possibility of staffing shortages, layoffs, cuts to their sick time, unaffordable healthcare, unfair wages and racial injustice on the job. When workers have too many patients to care for, they cannot provide personalized attention to each one and mistakes can be made. Understaffing, in particular, can lead to hospital-acquired infections, worker injuries, turnover, and negative patient outcomes.

The unions have been at the table working to protect our patients and our community from Providence’s corporate greed, but Providence has ignored their concerns over fair treatment and safe staffing.

That’s why 15,000 nurses and health care workers, amongst the 20,000 Providence union caregivers across the state, at over a dozen hospitals statewide have voted or are voting to strike.

Providence is pursuing a multi-state corporate strategy to eliminate millions of dollars’ worth of earned sick time and earned paid time off benefits, all to boost their bottom line. While the front line healthcare providers and workers fight to keep what they have earned, Providence has pocketed nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2019 alone. That’s $5.3 million in profits each day. With profits like these, Providence can afford to take care of the nurses and healthcare workers who take care of us.

We ask you to support our registered nurses and healthcare workers at these Providence hospitals throughout the state in their fight for a fair contract by not crossing the picket line if there is a strike and take this into consideration in selecting which facility you choose to receive care.