This is 0200 hours at the Hilton on what is now October 18th. The CHW representatives are at the end of the table on the far right, having agreed to the last sticking point.. We had agreed that stand-by pay should be the same hourly wage for all, as opposed to a percentage of each person's hourly wage. What that hourly pay should be was the next question, and as of July, 2003, it was agreed that it will be $7.50/hour.

This composite photo of the final bargaining session reflects the bargaining process--- there are some stripes that don't quite match and the appearance of upheaval on the floor, but everybody that wants to be is in the room and part of the decision-making process. When the contract is presented to all technical unit employees for ratification, it would be great if we could convey all that it took to get here---why one thing is in the contract and another not--- but that is knowledge that you had to be there to get. The short story is that MHS employees are getting a chance to participate in decisions about wages and workplace conditions because they made the effort to join Local 250.

On the table at lower left, you will see a copy of the Kaiser contract. Kaiser Hospital has always been a union workplace and is (not coincidentally!) the high end of the scale in terms of wages and workplace conditions. During bargaining for the Service unit contract, our goal was to get close to Kaiser wages, which at the time seemed like reaching for the stars. The Service unit ended up getting to within 5% of Kaiser. That made it possible for the Technical bargaining unit to actually get to Kaiser wages on this contract. So, thank you, Service Unit, for this great start!

During bargaining, I heard someone say "People are always saying "we want to get to Kaiser" -- nobody ever says "We want to get to CHW!" It's in all of our best interest to be competitive with Kaiser "the workplace of choice": How many former co-workers do we know who've left for Kaiser, or UCD (also a Union hospital) in order to get higher wages and better working conditions? Wouldn't WE like to be the "workplace of choice" ? Now, through SEIU Local 250, we have the chance to make this happen.