Union workers at Swedish Medical Center ratified new contracts for registered nurses, service employees and technical staff. The agreement was reached after 14 bargaining sessions with SEIU 1199NW and includes across-the-board pay raises as well as an increase in health-insurance premiums for dependent coverage.

"We entered negotiations believing we needed to bring our service and technical wages - which are much higher than other hospitals - closer to the market average. To let the rest of the market catch up to us, our initial proposal was to provide additional pay to employees in the form of lump sums rather than base increases," said Joanne Suffis, vice president of human resources at Swedish.

"But given how much the economy has worsened since we started negotiations and the impact it's had on employees, we moved off our lump-sum proposal and agreed to across-the-board raises instead," she said.

However, Swedish maintained its position on increasing health-insurance premiums for dependent coverage and reached agreement with the union on higher premium shares that would take affect in 2010.

Swedish management also took a major step during negotiations when it proactively proposed putting a job-security clause into the contract. The clause is based on new CEO Rod Hochman's pledge not to manage the organization's finances by cyclical layoffs. Keeping that promise requires greater discipline on everyone's part, and the contract includes a commitment from the union to take shared responsibility for the long-term health of the organization. Consistent with the no-layoff pledge, management also agreed not to subcontract bargaining-unit work, with some exceptions noted in the contract.

"We have the best employees in the business, and we hope this new contract continues to strengthen employee relations," said Suffis.

The contract was ratified by the union on July 12, with a 97 percent yes vote.