May 15, 2013
Washington DC – 1199SEIU members at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) have won more than raises and better benefits. The tentative agreement’s concrete wins are significant, said Environmental Services worker and bargaining committee member Dwayne Flintall, but there was another issue at stake for GBMC workers: respect.
"A lot of my associates that I work with, they like to know that they have a little job stability, they get more respect from other people," Flintall added. "So they are not just looking down at us. We keep the hospital functioning; we keep it actually moving and clean."
The agreement, which union members are voting on now, has several wins for hospital workers, including a bonus and a 1% raise upon ratification with another 1% in December, protections for employee healthcare, and a 1 year term, rather than the four years that management wanted. Additionally, GBMC will continue participating in SEIU’s Training and Upgrading Fund, a benefit management tried to take back earlier in bargaining.
