Union members at Cape Laboratory (C-Lab), Cape Cod Human Services, Falmouth Hospital and Cape Cod Hospital (collectively known as Cape Cod Healthcare) ratified a new system-wide agreement that will cover 1600 healthcare workers on Cape Cod.
The three-year agreement will maintain the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, an educational benefit that allows union members to go back to school and enhance their skills. The new contract preserves, and improves for some facilities, the health insurance program for union members; prescription drugs will also be more affordable under the health insurance program.
The contract upholds layoff language and establishes a system-wide labor-management process for addressing issues of quality patient care. Union members will see their wages grow and will be eligible to take workshops on home buying, mortgages, and credit.
“At a time when many health care systems are experiencing significant financial pressures, the workers…were able to secure a contract which improved health insurance benefits, increased the employer’s contribution to the 403(b) plan, and saw wage growth,” said David Smith, a union member at Cape Cod Human Services.
“The contract and all of its provisions passed by an overwhelming margin. This was possible because of the strength of a united bargaining team whose position was not oppositional but, rather, one of informed participation in the negotiating process,” he said.
The three-year agreement will maintain the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund, an educational benefit that allows union members to go back to school and enhance their skills. The new contract preserves, and improves for some facilities, the health insurance program for union members; prescription drugs will also be more affordable under the health insurance program.
The contract upholds layoff language and establishes a system-wide labor-management process for addressing issues of quality patient care. Union members will see their wages grow and will be eligible to take workshops on home buying, mortgages, and credit.
“At a time when many health care systems are experiencing significant financial pressures, the workers…were able to secure a contract which improved health insurance benefits, increased the employer’s contribution to the 403(b) plan, and saw wage growth,” said David Smith, a union member at Cape Cod Human Services.
“The contract and all of its provisions passed by an overwhelming margin. This was possible because of the strength of a united bargaining team whose position was not oppositional but, rather, one of informed participation in the negotiating process,” he said.
