More than 1,900 Cape Cod Healthcare Employees Hail New Contract Agreements as Good for Workers and Patients

September 25, 2015

More than 1,900 healthcare workers across the Cape Cod Healthcare system will see higher wages and other benefit enhancements as part of five new contract agreements reached with Cape Cod Healthcare.

1199SEIU healthcare workers at Falmouth Hospital, Cape Cod Hospital, Cape Cod Laboratory Services and Cape Cod Human Services ratified five contracts over the last week that will provide at least a 2 percent raise each year of the three-year agreement. A majority of low-wage workers across the system will also get a much-needed pathway to $15/hour. The contract includes provisions to maintain affordable healthcare, with some workers seeing significant reductions in premiums as well as the maintenance of crucial training and education benefits.

Workers at Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital will see at least a 6 percent raise over the newly ratified three-year contract, with many receiving larger increases. The new Falmouth contract also provides additional payments to employees who have degrees related to their jobs – a provision already in place at Cape Cod Hospital. While Cape Cod Laboratory Services workers will also see at least a 6 percent raise over their newly ratified three-year contract, a significant majority will see more than that.

“We’re proud of these new agreements, which reflect the high quality patient care that we as healthcare workers provide every day at our local hospitals and healthcare facilities,” said Deona Brennan, a sonographer at Falmouth Hospital. “Under these new agreements, many healthcare workers will now be on a path to a living wage, ensuring that they can focus on providing great care, rather than worrying about how to make ends meet.”

The new contract with Cape Cod Human Services provides earned time off to fee-for-service clinicians, a first-time benefit to clinicians who previously could not accumulate time off.

“Clinicians deserve to be able to take time to away from the job above and beyond the minimum time now guaranteed under the new earned sick time law,” said Jennifer Fay, a licensed mental health counselor at Cape Cod Human Services. “For the first time, this contract will enable those clinicians to take that time without having to worry about losing wages.”

Healthcare workers voted over the last week to ratify the agreements, which took effect upon ratification. The nearly 1,900 Cape Cod Healthcare workers are members of 1199SEIU and include clinical social workers, clinicians, professional and technical employees, clerical employees, service employees, maintenance workers, and many other job titles throughout the healthcare system.

“Workers strongly support these agreements, which demonstrate that Cape Cod Healthcare is recognizing that a living wage and quality benefits are integral components to building strong hospitals and providing great patient care,” said Jerry Fishbein, Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

“These new agreements will strengthen jobs across Cape Cod Healthcare, ensuring that Cape Cod residents will continue to receive excellent care,” said Veronica Turner, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

The Cape Cod Healthcare contract agreements are the most recent in a series of successes for members of 1199SEIU, the state’s largest healthcare union, including new agreements at healthcare facilities in the Nashoba Valley, Lynn, Everett, and South Boston. In June, Massachusetts Personal Care Attendants (PCAs) and Gov. Charlie Baker announced that the state’s caregivers will become the first in the nation to achieve a statewide $15 per hour starting wage, based on an agreement reached between the 35,000 home care workers of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and the Baker administration.