Seattle Children’s Hospital Nurses on the Verge of First-Ever Strike

For the first time in Seattle Children’s Hospital’s 118-year history, its unionized nurses are on the verge of a strike.

After going back and forth over contract negotiations since May, 2,200 nurses are holding a strike vote on December 21 and December 22. If the nurses strike, much of Seattle Children’s Hospital will grind to a halt. Children receiving specialized care—like those undergoing cancer treatment, or relying on an artificial heart and lungs to survive—would likely have to relocate to Stanford in California.

The nurses and their union, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), say they don’t want to do this, but the hospital has given them no choice.

Nurses at Seattle Children's are asking for an average 10.4 percent wage increase in the first year of the contract as well as workplace improvements like three paid sick days for nurses injured during workplace violence.

Contract negotiations between Seattle Children’s and WSNA used to be collaborative. This year they’ve been aggressive. The hospital hasn’t moved forward on any of the nurses’ proposals and have held tight to a few anti-union measures.

“It’s not something any of us have any desire to do when it comes to taking care of our patients,” an acute care nurse and WSNA co-chair Kara Yates says, “The only reason that it is even on the table is because people feel like we're in a bad enough place that our patient care will be more at risk if we move forward in the direction that they would like to move as a hospital than if an acute action try to make a stand.”