The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, representing health care workers at University of Iowa Health Care, held an informational picket outside Kinnick Stadium Wednesday morning as the union continued pushing for wage increases and benefits from the Iowa Board of Regents.
A group of about 40 people, consisting of mostly union members with some community members present for support, held signs and chanted various slogans advocating for fair contracts, grievance policies, workplace safety, and increased pay for workers, among other demands.
At its Feb. 14 bargaining session, members of SEIU addressed the regents with demands for improved sick leave, bereavement policies, and other workplace protections. The union demanded a 14 percent wage increase for the first year followed by a 12 percent the second year.
The regents’ bargaining team countered with an offer of a 3 percent increase each year over the two-year contract, which is half a percent above the legal minimum for arbitration awards in Iowa.
Hannah Bott, the main Iowa organizer for SEIU, said the union has since responded with a 7 percent wage increase for the first year and a 3 percent increase for the second year. However, Bott said, the regents refused to raise their initial 3 percent offer.
At Wednesday’s picket, UIHC nurse and SEIU member Amanda Botteron expressed disappointment at the board of regents’ decision to offer “the bare minimum.”
“As a nurse — and before I was a nurse, I was an aide, a pharmacy tech, I worked with autistic kids, I’ve done a lot of jobs my life — I don’t think I’ve ever done just the bare minimum,” Botteron said.
Michele Whaylen, a physician’s assistant and SEIU member, said she is retiring in five weeks — sooner than she anticipated — due to poor working conditions and low pay at UIHC.
“It’s such a slap in the face, and it is so unrealistic,” Whaylen said of the 3 percent raise offered by the regents. “I am hoping that [the picket] brings public awareness to the issue and that every public person will call the board of regents and say, ‘You need to do better.’”
At the picket, SEIU displayed a sign urging people to call Mark Braun, the executive director of the board of regents, to support the union’s demands before 5 p.m. on Feb. 28. Shannon Gillette, a staff nurse, called the 3 percent pay increase an insult to health care workers.
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“We didn’t get into this for the money. We truly want to help people,” Gillette said. “But come on, give us a break. This is ridiculous. It really is. Three percent, it’s laughable.”
Gilette added the pay offered at UIHC does not match the cost of living in Iowa City and the price of education that nurses and other health care workers undertake for their careers.
“People are riled up,” Gillette said. “We’ve got higher numbers than ever joining our union today because of this.”
Karen Cyndari, an emergency medicine physician, said she is not a member of the union but attended the picket to support and emphasize union members’ complaints beyond wages.
“I interact a lot with our emergency medicine nurses in the emergency department, and what brings me out today is the need to increase their safety in their workplace,” Cyndari said. “It’s outrageous how often any of them are assaulted and how little we do as an institution about it.”
Cyndari said the low pay for UIHC workers has ripple effects beyond the workers themselves.
“Iowa already pays exceptionally low compared to the geographic area. In order to retain our talent, we have to do more,” Cyndari said. “We are losing our best talent to other states around us, and I think we owe it to Iowans to make sure we pay fairly.”
Negotiations will continue until March 15, at which time the union’s 2025-27 contract must be ratified.