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2602 wanurse child strike vote
Nurses staff an in-person information booth in the cold at the online strike vote Dec. 21.
Credit: WSNA/Matt Vivion

The long road to victory at Seattle Children’s

Seattle Children’s nurses ratified a new contract after nine months of tough bargaining, winning major pay increases, stronger protections, and preserving union rights.

This story appears in the February 2026 edition of The Washington Nurse.

• 5 minutes to read

It took nine months, 36 bargaining sessions, an informational picket, a full-page ad in the Seattle Times, letters to the Seattle Children’s Hospital Board of Directors, a far-reaching social media video of support from then Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson, a strike vote that passed overwhelmingly, and more to get a new contract.

At the end of it all, Seattle Children’s nurses voted by a decisive majority to ratify the contract on Jan. 31. The bargaining team had reached a tentative agreement at 4 a.m. on Jan. 23 after 20 hours of bargaining that day and recommended a “yes” vote.

  • 2602 wanurse child thumbs down
    Seattle Children's nurses had a powerful showing at the Sept. 18 bargaining session. The room was packed with members from 23 different units supporting the tireless bargaining team.
    Credit: Seattle Children's Instagram (@sch_wsna)
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    Seattle Children’s nurses held an informational picket Sept. 30 to voice their anger over Seattle Children’s refusal to agree to common sense proposals that would recruit and retain skilled nurses, protect nurse health and safety, and prioritize patients over profits.
    Credit: WSNA/Matt Vivion
  • IMG 3493 3 2
    Seattle Children’s nurses held an informational picket Sept. 30 to voice their anger over Seattle Children’s refusal to agree to common sense proposals that would recruit and retain skilled nurses, protect nurse health and safety, and prioritize patients over profits.
    Credit: WSNA/Matt Vivion
  • P1000584
    Seattle Children’s nurses held an informational picket Sept. 30 to voice their anger over Seattle Children’s refusal to agree to common sense proposals that would recruit and retain skilled nurses, protect nurse health and safety, and prioritize patients over profits.
    Credit: WSNA/Ruth Schubert
  • P1000806
    Seattle Children’s nurses held an informational picket Sept. 30 to voice their anger over Seattle Children’s refusal to agree to common sense proposals that would recruit and retain skilled nurses, protect nurse health and safety, and prioritize patients over profits.
    Credit: WSNA/Matt Vivion

It was the toughest fight nurses at the Seattle Children’s bargaining table had ever experienced.

“I have been on the bargaining team for four contracts, and this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” said Lindsey Kirsch, who works in Urgent Care. “The anti-union lawyers Children’s hired this time around went after basic union protections that have been in our contract for a very long time. And they came in with a long list of other takeaways.”

The bargaining team had the collective power of Seattle Children’s nurses and community supporters behind them. More than 1,300 nurses and community members showed up at the informational picket on Sept. 30, 2025, and in December Children’s nurses voted overwhelmingly to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike if necessary. State representatives, the mayor-elect, other labor unions, and a prominent pediatrician were among the community members who urged management to do the right thing.

After nine months of bargaining, the WSNA bargaining team at Seattle Children’s reached agreements on nearly all the issues they had been fighting for. The long list of wins included significant wage increases, additional sick time, multiple improved premiums, workplace violence protections, and the appropriate use of AI and new technology.

Contract highlights

Increases to the wage scale, taking wages up an average of 15% by March of 2028, with a focus on bringing up newer nurses who were further behind market rate.

An average wage increase of over $13 per hour over the life of the contract.

Increases in eight premiums, including incentives aimed at keeping experienced nurses working nights to protect patient and nurse safety.

Increased sick leave accruals and a one-time deposit of hours into nurses’ sick leave banks.

Four new protected leaves including on-the-job injury leave, workplace violence leave, post-shift fatigue leave, and death of a patient leave.

Robust new workplace violence language that commits Seattle Children’s to common-sense measures to prevent and address workplace violence and dedicate two security personnel on the psychiatry and behavioral medicine unit.

Detailed language on the interplay between new technologies and nursing care that preserves nurses’ exercise of clinical judgment and protects nurses’ skills and decision-making.

Expands the hospital’s commitments to anti-racism and non-discrimination.

Protects nurses’ rights to rest and meal breaks.

Just as significantly, the WSNA nurses at Children’s fought off aggressively anti-union, anti-nurse proposals that management brought to the table, including a mandatory arbitration proposal that would have prevented nurses from going to court or pursuing class action lawsuits if the hospital violates nurses’ rights under the law.

“I am really proud of this contract,” said Kara Yates, local unit co-chair. “It was an incredibly tough process, but with the incredible support of the entire bargaining unit, we got to a great outcome.”

 

TIMELINE

A significant departure

In these negotiations, Seattle Children’s management departed from its long-standing collaborative working relationship with WSNA and brought in a notoriously anti-union law firm to conduct the negotiations. Bargaining was slow, grinding work. Here are some of the biggest milestones.

May 28, 2025

First bargaining session

July 9 – Anti-union, anti-DEI proposals from Children’s

Bargaining session number three: Children’s management had their hired attorneys drop a slew of anti-union, anti-worker, and anti-DEI proposals on the table. They were unprecedented.

Children’s proposed:

  • Deleting anti-racism initiatives from the preamble of the contract, including deleting the statement that “racism has no place within Seattle Children’s.”
  • Cutting registered nurses out of the contract, including case managers, and advanced registered nurse practitioners.
  • Making union membership completely voluntary and eliminating payroll deduction for union dues.
  • Restricting union access to the hospital, including requiring the union to give at least 24 hours’ notice.
  • Taking away nurses’ ability to go to court when Seattle Children’s breaks the law and forcing them into final, binding arbitration instead.

July 22 – More Children’s nurses join WSNA

Children’s Case Managers and Utilization Managers voted to join the bargaining unit and add their collective voices after significant pushback from management.

Aug. 5 – Paying nurses what they’re worth

Bargaining session number seven: WSNA presented a wage proposal aimed at getting Seattle Children’s nurses in line with other West Coast pediatric hospitals, recognizing the exploding cost of living in the Seattle area, raising premiums that would incentivize nurses to take hard-to-fill shifts, and eliminating the practice of disciplining nurses if they call in sick to prevent endangering their patients.

Aug. 28 – Children’s economic proposal shocking

Bargaining session number ten: Seattle Children’s finally made its opening economic proposal. It was shocking. Proposals included:

  • Eliminating employer-paid health care premiums.
  • Eliminating the second meal break and the timing requirements for the first meal break for all nurses.
  • Requiring a written explanation every time a nurse misses a meal or rest break.
  • Removing access to time off for birth of a child, health, and welcoming leave.
  • Reducing bereavement leave to 24 hours from 80.
  • Allowing no strikes or pickets after contract expiration.

Aug. 29 – Legislator support

State Rep. Liz Berry, Chair of the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee, sent a letter of support for nurses and their priorities to Seattle Children’s leadership, urging them to move swiftly and fairly to reach an agreement.

Sept. 30 – Informational Picket

In the face of little to no movement at the bargaining table, Seattle nurses held an informational picket. More than 1,100 nurses and 200 community supporters showed up, packing the sidewalks in front of the hospital.

October – A flood of community support

  • Oct. 10 – Dr. Ben Danielson, the former Medical Director of Seattle Children's Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC), sent a letter standing in solidarity with Children’s nurses and calling out concerns about management’s willingness to abandon DEI and anti-racist values.
  • Oct. 15 – Delegates to the MLK Labor Council, representing King County unions, unanimously approved a resolution demanding Seattle Children’s Hospital restore its values of being an equitable, anti-racist institution and stop its attack on workers and their union.

Oct. 17 and 20 – Federal Mediator helps move several TAs

With the help of a federal mediator, both sides were able to reach tentative agreements on several items, including a new article on the appropriate use of AI and new technology that states, “Technology used in a clinical setting is intended to complement, not diminish, nursing skills, judgment, and decision-making.”

Nov. 21

The WSNA bargaining team rejected the hospital’s final proposal to reach a deal before the contract extension expired. As they explained to their members, “We are not going to bring you a contract we cannot recommend. We are not going to settle for a deal that leaves you behind market wages, running on empty sick leave banks, and without the premiums needed to retain experienced nurses in the positions where patients need them most.”

Dec. 12 – “In Seattle we stand with our nurses.”

Then mayor-elect Katie Wilson posted a video on Instagram calling on Seattle Children’s management to return to the table and bargain in good faith to reach an agreement that supports nurses.

Dec. 21 and 22 – Nurses authorize a strike

After two days of voting, the nurses at Seattle Children’s voted to authorize the bargaining team to call a strike if they felt it was the only way to get a fair contract and protest unfair labor practices.

Jan. 9, 2026 – Movement on top priorities

After the overwhelming strike authorization vote, negotiations started to move, including on some of WSNA’s top priorities and long-fought-for gains that the Employer had rejected, including:

  • Paid time off for victims of workplace violence.
  • Additional pay for experienced nurses working nights.
  • Improvements for per diem nurses who take an FTE.
  • Control for nurses over their own schedules.
  • The choice to convert backpay into a meaningful amount of sick leave upon ratification.
  • Annual wage increases months earlier than previously proposed.

Jan. 16 – WSNA Labor Executive Council authorizes strike 

The LEC, WSNA’s governing body for collective bargaining, approved a motion authorizing an open-ended strike if necessary.

Jan. 23, 2026, 4 a.m. – TA reached

After 20 hours of bargaining, a tentative agreement was reached. The bargaining team recommended a “yes” vote.

Jan. 31, 2026 – Contract ratified

The new contract was set to go into effect on Feb. 2, continue through the end of February 2029, and included full retroactive pay back to Sept. 1, 2025.