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Contacts
Local Unit Officers
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News July 15, 2008 Conference Committee News
If your site does not yet have a committee or if you want to get involved, please contact Margaret Conley, WSNA Nurse Rep at 206-575-7979, ext. 3012. Budget Update Communications
June 18, 2008 Here is the response WSNA received from the county in response to our letter on your behalf.
BUDGET CRUNCH WORRIES! As you know the county budget process is on-going and cuts in many areas are being proposed. We plan to be ready to respond quickly when there is any news regarding the counties plan for nursing positions and programs. You need to be ready to act promptly when the time is right! Nurses will need to attend meetings to speak up for your jobs and your patients! Be ready to help WSNA distribute leaflets and flyers to educate the public! Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper in favor of maintaining County funded health care services. There will opportunities for everyone to help, in many ways. Please contact me directly at mconley@wsna.org or 206-575-7979 ext 3012 and let me know that we can count on YOU to be ready to act as soon as the budget proposals come out. June 2, 2008 WSNA Acts to Protect Your Privacy WSNA has learned that the County has received an information request related to staff at the King County Correctional Facility downtown. WSNA attorneys are requesting information from the County about the Public Disclosure request and considering all options for appropriate legal action to protect the safety and privacy of our members! Please contact me if you have any information you feel we should know about this issue. Watch this page for updates! Margaret Conley, RN, ARNP
May 20, 2008 Banking of Holiday Hours! Did you know you can now bank holiday hours as vacation time rather than accruing it as comp time? WSNA has been working with HR and Payroll to assure that the system was ready to accept this new option in time for the Memorial Day holiday. Directions for how to mark your time card have come out from the county in the last week so check your county email if you are interested in this option. The advantage of banking hours as vacation time is that you can accrue them long term, they are not
subject to payout at the end of the year, nor are they capped.
The disadvantage is that they are banked as straight time ( 8 hours) rather than accrued as 12 hours
of comp time. Are You Bilingual? Watch this site as well as your county email if you are a nurse who uses bilingual skills as part of your job. The county is updating their form and process to accommodate paying you the bilingual premium won in your new contract. You will need to have a supervisor sign off on the form assigning you this premium so please be aware that this benefit is coming soon and do the necessary paperwork to get this money. The premium amount is small but it is an acknowledgment of your skills by the county. We will work in the next contract cycle to increase amount. Are You Reading This? If you are reading this and think this is a good way to get updates from WSNA please contact your WSNA unit rep Margaret Conley at mconley@wsna.org or at 2-6-575-7979 ext. 3012 and let us know.
May 1, 2008 Local Unit Update…Did you know? Conference Commitees or LMCs are currently active at the following locations: Columbia, Northshore, Eastgate, Federal Way, Renton, Auburn, Child Care office downtown, TB Control Clinic, and the Regional Justice Center in Kent. WSNA is working with nurses at the King County Correctional Center, White Center, North, Kent, DYS, and other locations to start conference committees or resume LMCs where those have become inactive. Brown Bag Meetings have occurred this month or are scheduled in the near future at the following locations: RJC Federal Way Auburn Northshore White Center Nurses have been calling and your Nurse Rep has attended numerous meetings to support King County Nurses this month in investigatory meetings, disciplinary meetings, and PIP meetings at several different sites. To Do List:
Document Library
Please note: All items in the document library are in PDF format unless otherwise noted. 2008 Local Unit Awards Presented by the WSNA Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare The WSNA Cabinet on Economic and General Welfare is proud to announce the annual Local Unit Awards to be presented during the 2008 Leadership Conference on September 29, 2008 in Lake Chelan. This is your chance to nominate someone that you feel has done an outstanding job as a local unit leader. This can be someone who is, or has been, a local unit leader who you feel deserves some recognition. So please submit your nominations before the July 25, 2008 deadline. To nominate the person, or persons of your choice, please complete the nomination form after reviewing the criteria for each award. More information on you nominee is best! Please add additional pages if necessary! The Categories for the Awards are: Outstanding Local Unit Chair, Adversity Award, Local Unit Star, Outstanding Negotiation Team, Membership Award, and Outstanding Grievance Officer. To nominate someone for one of these awards, download this form and return it to WSNA by July 25, 2008! Current Issue Short Staffing = No Breaks = Unsafe Patient Care The issue of meal and rest breaks has plagued nurse for many years. It has never been about nurses not wanting to take their breaks. It is about real concerns related to staffing and the ability to provide SAFE Patient Care. It is about hospitals having enough STAFF to meet the requirements of the law to provide rest breaks. Missed meal and rest breaks have a direct relationship to short staffing which can lead to unsafe patient care. Missed meal and rest breaks are a direct result of the lack of commitment to provide adequate staffing. Missed meal and rest breaks force you to work exhausted and lead to increased medical and medication errors, thus putting both Your Patients - and YOU - in jeopardy. We don’t think it is unreasonable to expect to be able to stop and rest for 15 minutes every 4 hours … do you? As a Registered Nurse working in Washington: Did You Know?
WSNA Is Fighting For You!
What You Can Do!
Resources from ANA
Membership Want to have a voice in your local unit? Want to be able to vote on your contract? Join WSNA today! Simply download and complete the WSNA Membership Application form, and return it to us by fax or mail. Have you moved? Changed your name? Changed your FTE? Gone on LOA? Don't forget to notify WSNA to ensure that your membership information is correct and that you are paying the right amount of dues. Your employer may not inform WSNA of these changes in a timely fashion… It’s up to you! It's simple. Just complete the Change of Information form and return it to us by fax or mail. Help us keep your records accurate by letting us know right away when there are changes. Tip: to save PDF documents to your computer, right click on the link and select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." Select the location on your computer where you want to save the PDF file, and click "Save." |
