As our healthcare employers are expanding services and are reporting to the state that they have sufficient PPE, employers must implement best practices to keep us and our patients safe. Fill out our intake form to share with us information about PPE and testing access in your workplace.
Our Plan to Win
We know there is strength in our unity, in our union and in our resolve in the fight against the virus.
It’s normal to feel scared — scared for ourselves, for our families and for our community. But we know that the best way to overcome that fear is to remain strong, because we are stronger together and we have a plan. We will lead the efforts to combat COVID-19 together as a union of healthcare and behavioral healthcare workers on the front lines of treatment.
In unity,
Your Executive Board
Announcements & Updates
Latest News
Our union enters into Memorandum of Understanding with Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital
Our union signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Yakima’s Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Read…
Read More 
COVID-19 Union Response Bulletin – September 4 Issue
This is our opportunity to return to the bargaining table prepared to win what we need as coronavirus cases begin.
Read More Our union enters into Memorandum of Understanding with Kalispell Regional Health
Our union signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kalispell Regional Health related to the COVID-19 emergency.
Read More Union Wins
Demanding Safety and Protections
We have worked with employers to ensure safety protections and policies for frontline healthcare workers. Because of our unity, many healthcare employers have made commitments:
Parking at UW
“When management informed us of their desire to redeploy employees throughout the UW Medicine System so that we can respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we demanded the right to bargain. Many of us took digital action, flooding our leaderships’ inboxes with the union demands. One of the early wins, so far, has been free parking for the month of April at all UW campuses. We felt that was important since a lot of our members usually carpool or take the bus, which in this pandemic is not a safe option, and has forced many employees to drive to work. We’re still fighting hard and will have more wins to come because we have a strong union!”
Patrick Cassidy, Radiology Tech
Northwest Hospital | UW Medical Center
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Executive Board
Advocacy in Montana
“We had a situation in our department that felt unsafe — a provider was going to perform an elective procedure and we were concerned about the proximity this doctor had with a confirmed COVID-19 employee. My co-workers and I felt we had to step in and do something. We wrote a letter to our director, demanding this case be cancelled or another doctor assigned. Our director was resistant at the beginning, not taking our concerns seriously — but we kept pushing. At the last minute, they cancelled the procedure! We were successful because we came together to advocate for our patients’ and co-workers’ safety. It wouldn’t have been the same if it had been just one nurse saying no.”
Mary Lamar, RN
Kalispell Regional Medical Center
