Yakima Multicare healthcare workers to strike

Technical employees represented by Teamsters Local 760 authorized a strike to start next Saturday

YAKIMA, WA (January 9, 2026) — Nearly 170 technical employees at MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital delivered strike notice to management on Monday after stalled negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement. Per the workers’ union, Teamsters Local 760, the strike will begin on January 17th at 6:30 am.

Workers organized to join the teamsters in early 2025. In a news release announcing their successful organizing campaign, the Teamsters union shared that, “workers were determined to become Teamsters after their hospital was bought out in 2023 and their benefits were slashed by the new employer. The technicians and technologists knew that they were stronger together and needed a union to amplify their collective voice and help them secure the wages and benefits they deserved.”

As a healthcare system, MultiCare has a recent history of anti-union actions. Last year, workers at MultiCare Emergency Parkland in Tacoma held a five-day unfair labor practice strike in response to more than a dozen instances of MultiCare violating workers’ basic organizing rights, including bargaining in bad faith and retaliating against employees.

From Teamsters Local 760:

Teamsters Local 760 and the members are disappointed that we are being forced into this by the practices of a “non-profit” hospital. Since assuming ownership of the Yakima Memorial Hospital in 2023, MultiCare has instituted numerous corporate style changes. The corporate changes have not been a benefit to either the employees or the patients of the Hospital. They have made cuts to services, institute policies that we believe are detrimental to patient care and cut benefits for the employees and their families.

On December 29th, while the Union was conducting a strike vote, Kim Bersing, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Executive sent out a statement to the Technical Employees that includes the following. “A protracted strike will only cost you. A strike is unlikely to change our proposal and will not yield an outcome other than what we are prepared to offer.”

While the Hospital claims they are negotiating in good faith, it is clear Teamsters Local 760 and the members who voted to strike that the Hospital is refusing to address the employees’ proposals in any meaningful way. Teamsters Local 760 and Technical Employees ask for your support in this difficult time for the employees and their families.