Blog Post
One of the SEIU wins I am most proud of came when I fought for longevity pay at UMC. I first learned about the issue from members who came to me concerned about not receiving their longevity pay, even though they had been employed before the signing of the 2016 contract - which made them eligible. Some were ancillary staff, some were RNs, but all of them being told they weren’t entitled to what they had rightfully earned.
Management and HR tried to push them into what’s called the “M Plan,” which meant stepping outside of our collective bargaining agreement. Under that plan, HR alone would decide raises - 4%, 5%, whatever they felt like. Worse, employees were told they were no longer eligible for longevity after 2013, even though the contract clearly said otherwise.
I knew this wasn’t right. So I filed a grievance. With support from my SEIU sisters and brothers, I gathered documentation going back over 10 years that proved these employees had been wrongly denied. We stood in front of the CHRO, laid out the facts, and showed that these workers had never given up their right to longevity pay.
The result? We won. UMC had to pay nearly $500,000 back to employees and reinstate their longevity. And those who had already been pressured into the M Plan kept their raises, too. That’s real money back into the hands of working families. That’s security for people who were almost robbed of what they were due. And that’s exactly why unions matter - because without SEIU 1107, management would have gotten away with it.
This win reminds me of why I fight every day: to protect workers, to hold management accountable, and to make sure no one gets bamboozled out of their rights.
That’s the power of being union.