Massachusetts members voted overwhelmingly to ratify new four-year contracts in February with Cape Cod Healthcare institutions, which will include a minimum of 10 percent wage growth over the life of the agreement. The four contracts will cover frontline workers at Cape Cod Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, Cape Cod Healthcare Lab Services and Cape Cod Human Services.

“This is an enormous victory for our members,” said 1199SEIU Executive Vice President Tim Foley.

“Our members drove home the message that Cape Cod healthcare workers have worked tirelessly during the last two years, and they deserve to be paid fairly, and treated with respect. These contracts do that.”

Under each of the agreements, the workers with the lowest wages will experience a greater wage growth in percentage terms due to annual step movement and other adjustments.

“The last two years have shown people on Cape Cod – and across the country – how important these frontline jobs are,” said Anderson Ricardo, 1199SEIU bargaining committee member and ICU Nursing Assistant at Cape Cod Hospital. “Every healthcare worker deserves fair pay, good benefits, and respect. I was happy to be a part of these negotiations.”

Elsewhere in Massachusetts, at Saugus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, north of Boston, a strike was narrowly averted when management agreed to come back to the table. Members had made their voices heard when they held informational pickets outside the institution in February and March, when negotiations were stalled. If a settlement cannot be reached with fair wages that allow workers to care for their own families and protect quality resident care, another strike notice will be issued.

1199 Magazine | March / April 2022