Last week, Dietitians at Washington Hospital voted unanimously (9 yes, 0 no) to join ESC Local 20, IFPTE. This group is joining more than 130 other professionals at Washington Hospital, growing our union’s strength to continue to advocate for ourselves, our professions, and our patients.

ESC members working as Clinical Laboratory Scientists, Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, Physical Therapists and Physical Therapy Assistants, Lymphedema Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Speech Pathologists, recently ratified a new three-year contract that includes:

• No changes to employee costs or coverage for retirement or healthcare benefits
• 2.25% across-the-board increase (retroactive to February 1st and should have been paid on June 3rd in a separate check)
• 1.25-1.5% across-the-board increases every six months for the second and third years of the contract
• Equity increases for CLS classifications that were severely behind the market rate, opening the door to look at market rates in future cycles of bargaining 

ESC has notified Washington Hospital Management of the vote results and is working on scheduling bargaining for the newly represented Dietitians. Dietitians will select their representatives to the Bargaining Committee, who will seek to fold the new Dietitians group into the existing contract with their own specific wage scales. We hope to achieve this goal quickly and fairly and then bring it to the Dietitians for final approval very soon.  

Congratulations to all involved! If you have any questions about the contract, the bargaining process, or want to get more involved in the union, please contact Grant Hill at ghill@nullifpte20.org.