Remember this blast from the past? Do you know where your signature appeared on this poster from 2016?
If you’ve been around for SHARE’s previous contract negotiations with the hospital, you know how important it is that management recognizes how connected our union is. Even now, if you look around departments in our hospital, you can find posters we’ve used to demonstrate SHARE’s strength:
that SHARE is the biggest union in our hospital, now with almost 3000 members in roughly 170 different job titles,
that UMass Memorial works because SHARE members do,
and that SHARE members keep informed and will stick together for a strong contract.
The poster we assembled during our last negotiations was a beauty, with hundreds of photos, and in each of those photos, a handful of SHARE members held signs to name a vital function they serve in our community. For negotiations in 2022, we’re putting together another poster to describe to our community what SHARE members have been through and what we need to keep moving forward. We encourage you to put your name on it! SHARE Reps and organizers have already begun collecting signatures around the hospital. We want our community to know we care.
If you’d like to schedule for a SHARE Rep to bring a signature sheet to your area, please call the SHARE office: 508-929-4020.
Here’s what the 2022 SHARE Signature Poster will say:
SHARE Members Are Always Essential
We are the nearly 3000 SHARE members who – through thick and thin -- keep UMass Memorial Medical Center, UMass Memorial Medical Group, and UMass Memorial Health running. Whether we care directly for patients or work in the background, these last two years have been incredibly difficult:
Working through COVID.
We maintained the frontline to protect Central Massachusetts throughout the pandemic. We came to work every day, knowing that we could be putting our lives and our families at risk. While COVID surges came and went, patients were our priority. Now we are exhausted, and, at the same time, proud of how well we have taken care of our community.
Working Short.
In response to the pandemic, across the country, workers continue to leave healthcare. The national staffing shortage has placed an incredible burden on our shoulders – caring for our patients without enough staff. Still, we persevere.
Working while Financially Stressed.
As if COVID and short staffing aren’t bad enough, inflation is our biggest worry right now. Gas, food, rent – everyone’s costs are rising rapidly. We know that increases in the cost of living hit people at the bottom of the pay scale hardest. We watch as co-workers leave to make more money elsewhere.
Recruitment and Retention
A good contract is essential for SHARE members and for UMass Memorial. Together we must address our immediate financial challenges, attract new people to fill open positions, and create career pathways for SHARE members to learn and grow at UMass Memorial.
We want to stay at UMass Memorial
Our work through our Unit Based Teams shows how much we care about making this the best place to give care so it can be the best place to get care. We strive to make this a place where everyone treats each other with genuine kindness and respect. A good contract makes it possible for us to stay.
We will stand together as the SHARE Union
Our patients, our families, and our community depend on us.