[caption id="attachment_667" align="alignleft" width="300"]SEIU members working in the Health Dept. speak with Council Lady Edith Langster about their concerns.[/caption]

Thanks to consistent and strategic activism by members of SEIU Local 205, the Metro Nashville Board of Health voted to implement a new Pay Plan for FY-2014 that would give eligible employees in the Health Department a salary adjustment which is similar to the step increases that other Metro employees received this year.

This comes in the wake of a grassroots effort by SEIU members in the Health Department to ensure that MPHD staff were treated equitably once the Metro Council approved step raises for General Government employees.

Union members lobbied Metro Council members and the Mayor’s office, putting pressure on the Board of Health and the MPHD administration to implement a plan that calls for a one-time step increase for FY 2014 for all eligible employees of the Health Department.

“If it wasn’t for the Union, we would not be getting these raises,” said Christine Fouch, a public health nurse who attended the June BOH meeting and witnessed the turn of events. “Our presence and the Union’s persistence has convinced the Board to do the right thing for employees”.

The increase takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014 and is not tied to performance evaluations. All employees who are eligible for steps and are not “topped out” will receive them.