Time to Celebrate – And Get Ready For the Future
Last week, by an overwhelming majority, WSNA nurses voted to adopt the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by your WSNA team. The ratification vote was the culmination of months of negotiations during which your WSNA negotiations team fought to defend core rights in your contract. Please take time to thank your negotiation team members; Martha Goodall, Randy Jarvis, Diana Dodson, Peggy Smith, Sue Kelly, Pat Murrill, Cathy Mitchell and Veneta Peterson.
This was a difficult contract cycle. Perhaps hoping to capitalize on recent anti-union assaults such as those in Wisconsin, management proposed to strip years of accomplishments out of the collective bargaining agreement. By standing united, your WSNA team beat back the worst of it and obtained modest economic benefits, including three years of pay increases and new pay steps. While your contract remains intact, after watching managements aggressive attempts to undermine your union’s power, your continued involvement and participation is necessary to ensure that our contract continues to be one we can all be proud of.
Along with settling the contract, WSNA has also settled its rest break lawsuit against Providence Holy Family. As part of the settlement, Holy Family has agreed to begin recording and paying for missed rest breaks, as well as adopt procedures and training protocols that create working conditions that allow nurses to take rest breaks. Nurses will never leave a patient in need, and the new rest break policy negotiated by WSNA should ensure that nurses can take their rest break knowing that their patients will continue to receive quality care. Just as we must work together to protect our contract, we need to work together to make this new policy work and ensure that nurses receive the rest breaks they are entitled to and need.
But for now, take a breath! We did it! We have a contract and a new rest break policy that has the promise to improve our working conditions in a real and concrete way. By working together, we can achieve so much! Please stay in touch with your WSNA officers and Nurse Rep. Debi Bessmer about any issues at the workplace, including any problems or issues with the implementation of the new rest break policy.