Red Book Negotiations #6

Essentia's most recent update says we haven't moved. Here are the facts from this past week of negotiations:

We narrowed it down. We withdrew a stack of our own proposals to focus the talks on the priorities that matter most to you — and to hand Essentia a clear path to a deal. That's what moving looks like.

Wages. We have dropped our across-the-board wage increase request by 2.5% in every year of the contract — from 7% to 4.5% — plus the cost of the grid steps, with full retroactive to July 1. Essentia's latest counter is 2.0% across the board. Watch the math they're using on you: they're now padding their number by counting the grid steps you already earn — the same steps already built into our offer. Strip out that sleight of hand and compare apples to apples — across-the-board to across-the-board — and it's 4.5% versus 2.0%. A 2.5% gap, every single year. And we said no to "Option 2"; their plan to scrap the wage grid for a compressed scale that would turn topped-out members' raises into one-time taxed checks and erase step increases for everyone still climbing.

They moved an inch on the small things. Essentia added a quarter to on-call pay, a dime to the night differential, and offered to delay dropping the cap on your PTO so people must burn down balances first. We’ll take small wins. But those are inches — and they came while Essentia still
demands every cut below.

Guaranteed benefits they want to make optional. Essentia is still proposing to convert a guaranteed contract benefit — bereavement leave — into company policy they can rewrite at their own discretion. It's sold as flexibility. But a benefit not guaranteed in your contract becomes a benefit they can quietly cut.

Workplace violence. Healthcare workers are 4–5 times more likely to be injured by workplace violence than workers in any other industry — and account for nearly half of all reported workplace assaults nationwide. This isn't theoretical, and it's why real protection belongs in these talks: paid committee time and paid time off when you need it, not a pamphlet. After weeks of this, Essentia has finally cracked the door — they clarified that committee members are entitled to be paid for meeting time. Good. But they still refuse to put the protections that matter into the contract: the right to refuse an unsafe assignment, written investigation deadlines, and a guaranteed seat at the table. Their answer is still mostly a letter promising to tell you about programs that already exist.

One place they did move. After we informed the company in countless conversations that cross- facility floating would not pass a ratification vote from our membership as a contract article, they finally moved it to a side letter. That's some small progress. We countered again this morning to put back the protections that make "voluntary" mean something: floating only when genuinely needed, our members will be offered the hours first, no member will be displaced, a guaranteed full shift, and a one-year review to make sure it's working.

The company keeps saying the cross-facility floating is "voluntary" and only used "when needed"; If that's true, then agreeing to put real limits in writing costs them absolutely nothing — they'd just be promising to do what they say they're already doing. The fact that they're fighting those limits so hard tells you what they're really after: the freedom to use this program however they want, whenever they want.
Still parked on Essentia's side, some of it over a month: the vacation-bank cut, the PTO and reserve-bank cuts, the clinic bonus restriction, and their demand for an unlimited, unilateral right to cut incentives whenever they choose.

We moved significantly from our opening offers, withdrew proposals, and put real solutions on the table. They moved inches and kept the cuts. We're not the side holding this up. We'll keep you posted!

We will be holding an informational contract meeting for Red Book members, all day 7:30am – 7:30pm July 16. If you have any questions about our contract or progress in negotiations, come have your voice heard!