Victory at Providence Sacred Heart
This content originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue (PDF) of The Washington Nurse magazine.
For two years, nurses at Sacred Heart in Spokane and Kadlec in Richland fought for fair contracts, joining 13,000 health care workers from several unions at Providence hospitals across Washington state.
On Dec. 9, 2019, Kadlec nurses ratified a contract that preserved PTO accruals and caps for all current nurses, enhanced staffing and workplace violence language and included wage increases of 10% over the life of the contract plus a ratification bonus.
On Jan. 16, 2020, Sacred Heart nurses ratified a contract that included no takeaways on Paid Time Off and Earned Illness Time, no changes to short-term disability, ratification bonuses that captured full retro pay, wage increases of 10% for the duration of the contract and enforceable language on staffing and workplace safety.
Coming weeks before the coronavirus hit the U.S., our victory at Providence showcased the power of nurses standing strong together and built a strong foundation to address the issues we now face and will face in the future.
The solidarity we built during these victories is a reminder that together we are stronger.
The negotiating team for the WSNA local unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Front row, left to right: LaDonna Reel RN Mother Baby, Stevie Lynne Krone 9N, Vicki Benson Radiology, Linda Clanton IV Therapy. Back row, left to right: David Emerson 7N, Clint Wallace ICU, Nonie Kingma AGPU, Darryl Johnson CICU, KT Raley Jones CICU.
BE BOLD by Stevie Lynne Krone
Along this journey, we faced more than just a corporate giant. My team and I would also be forced to challenge the very structure of established union traditions and what it meant to be a union worker within a collective bargain unit. Read more...
Getting — and staying — involved in my union by Callie Allen
TOGETHER, we can achieve great things. Union nursing is not a luxury that every nurse has, and it’s not something to be taken for granted. I am Callie, and I am proud to be a WSNA Union Nurse. Read more...