A union contract is a legally binding agreement that you and your co-workers negotiate with your employer. It puts in writing your wages and benefits, including health insurance, holidays, sick leave, vacation and personal time, and covers scheduling, hours and working conditions.

Contracts also give healthcare workers a strong voice on the job to advocate for patients, push for proper staffing and resolve problems at work.

The law doesn’t require an employer to provide a health plan, paid time off or paid vacation, or even a good reason to discipline or fire someone. The law doesn’t recognize seniority or protect you based on your years of service. Our union contract does.

Because we stand together, we have the power to negotiate strong wages and benefits. Protecting and improving them takes every member staying active and involved.

Every member has a say in the priorities for bargaining, through meetings, discussions and surveys. Members then elect co-workers to serve on a bargaining team.

The bargaining team writes proposals based on members’ priorities and negotiates with the employer, with help from an experienced union representative. When the team and employer reach tentative agreements, members vote to accept or reject them.

Log in to MyUHW, your member portal, or ask your steward or union representative. Kaiser members can also read the Purple Book.

A steward is an SEIU-UHW member, elected by co-workers, who represents members day to day on issues at work and shares ways to get involved in the union. Each worksite has several stewards.

Your steward or area leader is your first stop for questions or concerns at your worksite.

A union representative is an SEIU-UHW staff member who works full time with members at specific facilities to solve problems and plan for the future. Representatives often help lead contract negotiations and train stewards.

Log in to MyUHW to find your steward or union representative.

If the meeting could lead to discipline, you have the right to ask for a union representative before you answer questions. Learn more about your Weingarten Rights.

Members are what make SEIU-UHW strong and effective. We expect members to take part in union activities and to stand up for a better future. Every member is encouraged to become a leader and to take advantage of trainings for leadership roles.

Members’ dues provide the resources to win better contracts with better wages, benefits and working conditions, and to provide excellent representation. Dues also fund organizing new workers to raise standards everywhere, defending safe staffing and workloads, and legal advice and protection for members.

Members set dues levels. Only a secret-ballot vote of the membership can change dues union-wide. For the exact amount you can expect to pay, ask your steward or union representative.

Beyond your contract, members get discounts, free emotional and financial support, and tuition-free healthcare education opportunities for loved ones. See Member Resources.

Members lead our union. Our leadership includes a President and Vice President, an Executive Committee, an Executive Board and Advisors to the Executive Board. Meet our leadership.

• Executive Committee: eight seats elected union-wide, open to rank-and-file members and staff who are UHW members. Additional seats are allotted at one for every 5,000 members, by division and region, open only to rank-and-file members and elected by members of each division.
• Executive Board: one seat for every 500 members, by division and region, open only to rank-and-file members, plus two retiree seats elected by each division’s retirees. Members elect board members from their own constituency.
• Advisors to the Executive Board: two financial officers and two ethics officers, elected by each division.

Members elect leaders by secret ballot under our Constitution and Bylaws. See the 2026 Executive Board election results, and when a seat opens, vacancy elections fill it.

If you’re a California healthcare worker who wants a union at your workplace, talk to an organizer. Your conversation is confidential.