After three days of voting that finished Friday, 97 percent of UFCW 21 members working at MultiCare Health System Clinics and Hospitals had voted to ratify their new contracts.

Nearly 2,000 workers – from service and engineering, to office, to LPNs, professional and technical workers are among the members working in these clinics and hospitals. UFCW members had been in negotiations for months and the successful outcome of the negotiations showed that by taking action together and gaining public support, workers can get a fair contract even in a tough economy, the union said.

"Overall, members are feeling very good about this new contract," said Jose Moreno, MRI technologist at Allenmore Hospital and one of the LPN/Pro/Tech contract bargaining team members. "We stood together and protected our health plan, secured our pension and improved our wages."

In a statement from MultiCare: “We are pleased that MultiCare and the UFCW could work together to negotiate an equitable agreement that includes wage increases and continued benefits."

According to the UFCW, the ratified four-year contracts accomplished several of the key goals for workers in the negotiations including: protecting the health plan, securing the pension and improving wages. According to the UFCW, there also were several items that workers had hoped to achieve, but were not able to, including a fair process for co-workers who want to join the union to be able to do so.

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