Letter from legislators to Seattle Children’s Hospital CEO Jeff Sperring

October 15, 2025

Jeff Sperring, MD
Chief Executive Officer
Seattle Children’s Hospital
P.O. Box 5371
Seattle, WA 98145

Dear Dr. Sperring:

We are proud that our local Seattle Children’s Hospital has once again ranked among the top 10 children’s hospital in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report. Achieving this ranking and a successful journey on your five “treks” within your strategic plan is possible because of the nurses, doctors and staff who conduct life-changing research, provide best-in-class care and create innovation and partnership. We appreciate your historic respect of your nurses’ choice to organize into a union and to collectively bargain with management.

Many legislators recently attended your nurses’ informational picket outside Seattle Children’s Hospital on September 30. What we learned is happening, or rather not happening, at negotiations through your chosen representation from Morgan Lewis was very disappointing and concerning.

The nurses and their representative, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), report they have brought proposals to the table that would help protect nurses and address safety issues in your hospital. As we understand it, the counter proposals coming from your side appear to thwart those safety improvements and diminish the collective power these nurses not only have a right to but also deserve. Just a few of those counter proposals include automatically waiving rights to certain meal breaks while rejecting investments in break relief nurses and eliminating the Union’s right to strike even after contract expiration.

Other management proposals include restricting Union access to the members, limiting Union representatives, excluding certain nurses from the contract, and abolishing long-held union security and dues deduction rights.

As legislators we understand that compromise is necessary in negotiations. However, we have a hard time understanding why the number one most profitable and wealthiest major health system in Washington with profit margins of 14% (FY24) and 13% (FY25 through Q3).*

Nurses are the backbone behind Seattle Children’s Hospital’s reputation. Your staff are essential in providing the best care for our region’s children. We encourage you to come to the negotiating table with responsive good faith proposals.

We look forward to an update in the coming weeks about the progress you are making in negotiations between management and the nurses of Children’s Hospital.

Regards,

Representative Liz Berry, 36th Legislative District
Representative Julia Reed, 36th Legislative District
Senator Noel Frame, 36th Legislative District
Senator Rebecca Saldaña, 37th Legislative District
Representative Nicole Macri, 43rd Legislative District
Senator Jamie Pedersen, 43rd Legislative District
Representative Gerry Pollet, 46th Legislative District
Senator Javier Valdez, 46th Legislative District

Cc:

Bonnie Frylewicz, Chief Nursing Officer
Paulene Toussaint, Sr. Director People Operations
Jay Sandel, VP and Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Patient Care Services
Laura Licea, VP And Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Perioperative and Procedural Services
Danica Pytte, Senior Director and Associate Chief Nursing Officer, Ambulatory Admin Services
Adam Abrahams, Counsel, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

*Seattle Children’s Healthcare System, Financial Statements for nine months ending June 30, 2025, Unaudited.