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Sparrow Health approves new contracts with 4 UAW bargaining units

Sparrow Hospital
WKAR File Photo
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WKAR File Photo

Sparrow Health System and four United Auto Workers bargaining units have approved new contracts. The provider made the announcement Wednesday.

The deal will affect about 2,200 healthcare workers. An agreement was reached on Dec. 2 and union members ratified all four agreements on Dec. 9.

Previous contracts expired on Nov. 30 and affected workers in various positions including support operations, food and nutrition services, facilities, and technicians who work directly with patients in departments like respiratory therapy and radiology.

Muhammad Qawwee is the president of UAW Local 4911, which represents four bargaining units for Sparrow Hospital. He said the months-long negotiation process, which began Sept. 13, came down to the wire but overall went well.

We just want to make sure that our members feel valued and also feel with the wages that we have that they’re getting ahead,” he said. “We know we can’t control inflation, but we can hopefully control some of where we work.”

Qawwee said the wages agreement was one of the best he’s negotiated in years.

In addition to better wages and maintaining lower insurance premiums, Qawwee said the new contracts provide more concrete language to protect members from violence and harassment while on the job.

“One of the big issues that we really harped on and [were] able to come to an agreement on was the increased violence against members by patients or patients' families,” he said.

Overall, Qawee said his team negotiated an “excellent collective bargaining agreement.”

“We didn’t take any kind of concessions whatsoever which is always a good thing, especially with the plight of everything after COVID and the pandemic,” he said.

Cindy LaFountain, Sparrow’s director of Caregiver Relations, said the goal was to reach an agreement before the previous contracts expired.

“Part of that was the stabilization of our own workforce, our original commitment together was to get an agreement to do just that, to reinforce to our caregivers how extremely important they are to us and the system and to invest in them by reaching a deal,” she said.

LaFountain said although it wasn’t easy and neither party received exactly what they wanted, the process was successful.

“Just in terms of how we changed our focus together to focus our commitment to the caregivers here and because of that both parties reached, I feel, what was a very good resolution for our system and our caregivers,” she said.

The new contracts expire Nov. 30, 2025.

Melorie Begay is WKAR-FM's weekend host and a general assignment reporter.
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