When workers stick together and fight, we win! Hospital workers refused to be left out, and as a result everyone will benefit from our new agreement. Our victory could not have been possible without the many hours of negotiations where workers refused to give up or give in despite Beaumont drawing a hard line in negotiations.
Back in December of 2020, Beaumont proposed a $15/hour minimum wage for all employees. While the union was in agreement with raising all workers to the new $15/hour standard, it recognized that many workers with seniority and experience would be left out of ANY wage increases as a result of the proposal.
Now we have an agreement that will benefit ALL workers. Here are the full details of how we got here:
- In December 2020, Beaumont reached out to the union about a $15/hr wage increase for all Beaumont workers. SEIU launched the fight for $15/hr nearly seven years ago because no worker should make less than $15/hr. While the union was in agreement with raising all workers to $15/hour, the union also felt that every worker should benefit from this increase
- Beaumont’s proposal had some workers to benefit from the increase and others to remain compressed or not benefit At All. The union rejected any proposals that didn’t benefit the entire membership.
- The union and Beaumont went back and forth trying to reach an agreement where all workers would benefit from the $15/hr increase, Beaumont was not willing to extend the benefit to all workers despite the union’s continual efforts
- Beaumont raised the wages in May 2021 to $15 an hour for all unionized Beaumont workers without the union’s agreement. While the union had no problem raising the wages, many workers did not benefit from the raise. SEIU pushed back on Beaumont to give everyone some type of compensation so that no Beaumont union worker would be left out.
- In May 2021, the union filed a charge against Beaumont Hospital regarding their $15 proposal at which time the National Labor Board Ruled that Beaumont had no right to implement the wages without the union’s agreement.
- Beaumont agreed following the NRLB’s decision that they would bargain with the union in “Good Faith” over the $15 dollar proposal.
- After months of bargaining, the union reached an agreement with Beaumont so that everyone can benefit from the $15 raise increase. Through collective worker action, the union was able to get Beaumont to compensate all workers.
While we were not able to get everything we wanted, we were able to get Beaumont to move something that they said they were not going to do initially.
The FIGHT IS NOT OVER! We will continue in the future to fight for better benefits across the board for ALL WORKERS!
Beaumont’s agreement to compensate SEIU workers
Full time, and part time employees who were not moved to $15.00 as a result of the minimum wage increase, and have one or more years of seniority, but less than four years of seniority, at the time an agreement is executed, will receive a one-time payment as follows: Full Time will receive $200.00 (two hundred dollars); Part-time will receive $100.00 Payment will be received the first full pay period in November 2021 following the union’s acceptance of this agreement.
Full time, and part time employees who were not moved up to $15.00 as a result of the minimum wage and have four or more years seniority will receive a one- time cash payment in the following amounts: Full Time $500.00 (five hundred dollars) /PT $200.00.. Payment will be received the first full pay period in November 2021 following the union’s acceptance of this agreement.
This proposal is also offered to the FH Botsford Commons, and supersedes any prior proposals.