Pediatric healthcare providers unionizing in Tacoma

Dozens of providers at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital seek to join the Union of America Physicians and Dentists

TACOMA, WA (December 2, 2025) — Nearly 100 nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and optometrists at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and clinic locations have filed for union representation with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). Healthcare workers were motivated to unionize to ensure quality treatment conditions for their young patients,.

MultiCare Mary Bridge offers emergency care and inpatient services, as well as primary care and specialty outpatient clinics.  Providers unionizing with UAPD deliver care to children across the central and south Puget Sound region, including services in Pierce, King, Thurston, and Kitsap Counties.

“Every day, these providers see the incredible resilience of their young patients and their families,” Dr. Stuart Bussey, UAPD President, said. “These children deserve the best possible care, and that requires the appropriate resources. With a seat at the table, the employer cannot ignore their concerns.”

Healthcare workers are extremely knowledgable about how best to care for patients and make hospital and clinic spaces as effective as possible; after all, that’s what they spend their time doing. When that knowledge isn’t embraced by decision makers, patients, families, and workers all lose out.

Ensuring a voice on the job is the primary reason providers at MultiCare Mary Bridge chose to pursue union representation.

“Children require specialized attention and continuity of care,” said UAPD in a press release. “By having a structure in place that allows the providers to partner with hospital leadership, challenges can be addressed before they impact patient care.”

Affiliated with AFSCME, UAPD is the largest bicoastal union for licensed doctors and advanced practice clinicians in the nation representing more than 7,000 private and public-sector healthcare practitioners. Should providers at Mary Bridge Children’s secure representation with UAPD, they’ll expand the ranks of union healthcare workers at the hospital; other healthcare workers there are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000 and the Washington State Nurses Association.