Service workers and licensed practical nurses marched back and forth in front of the MultiCare Auburn Medical Center in Auburn to demand strong contracts that prioritize patient care, safe staffing and respect for healthcare workers on Monday.

“We’re trying to stand up for the rights of the staff here. Our main goal is helping patients but the hospital has forgotten that the staff is important too,” said Joel Le Bon, a nutrition assistant at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center and member of the bargaining team.

Le Bon said one of the issues they are fighting for is increased wages.

“If you look at what has been going on with the inflation and everything else, the hospital just hasn’t been keeping up,” Le Bon said. “We’re just asking to be recognized as people because we do important jobs.”

The protesters marching consisted of both hospital service workers and nurses, according to Le Bon.

Higher wages are not the only change Le Bon said he would like to see at MultiCare Auburn Medical Center.

“There’s a diverse population of people here that I think would like to be recognized,” he said.

Le Bon listed bathrooms and catering to people of different religions as something he would like to see the hospital address. “It’s encompassing many things, it’s not just our pay. It’s our differences that are not being recognized as well,” Le Bon said. “They are simply saying everything is fine and they don’t have to change anything but it’s across the board issues that we are dealing with.”

The informational picket fell on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan. 20, honoring Dr. King’s legacy of fighting for workers’ rights and social justice, a press release from SEIU Healthcare 1199NW said.

“Dr. King stood for justice in every form,” Le bon said. “We’re here to demand respect, fairness, and safe staffing for the patients and workers in our community. MultiCare must see the urgency. We need a strong contract now and a real investment in frontline healthcare workers.”

Le Bon said he has been here for more than 26 years through different administrations and would like Multicare to know how important they are for the community.

“I just want everyone else to know what’s going on,” he said. “That’s what I’m here for: to stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves.”

A healthcare worker wearing scrubs and a mask holds a sign reading “MLK would be disgusted!” on the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photo by Drew Dotson/ Sound Publishing People lead the crowd in chants through a PA system.

Photo by Drew Dotson/ Sound Publishing A protester leads the marchers in chants in front of the MultiCare Auburn Medical Center.