Good news: your bargaining team reached a Tentative Agreement for a new contract with VMFH Rehab late Tuesday night. The tentative agreement reached is a huge step forward from where we are now, and offers some crucial wins for our bargaining unit!

What’s in the tentative agreement:

• A true union step wage scale. Nurses will now receive 2% mid-year wage increases, as well as 3% annual wage increases, to reflect their increasing level of nursing experience. We won a step scale that goes to Step 25 in Year 1, Step 26 in Year 2, and Step 27 in Year 3 of the contract. This means TWO GUARANTEED RAISES EVERY YEAR!
• Nurses will have their salary adjusted according to their nursing years of experience. If you have been at VMFH Rehab for more than a year, you have not seen your wages keep up with your nursing years of experience. When this contract goes into effect, that changes: you will get placed onto the new wage step scale according to your nursing years of experience. So, if you have 10 years of nursing experience, but have been at Wage Step 7 since the last contract, you will get placed onto the new wage scale at Step 10. Then, you will move down another step to Step 11 in June of 2026, for your regular step increase.
• A 10% increase to the starting wage at Year 1, a 3% increase in Year 2, and another 3% increase in Year 3. The new wage scale has a 2% difference between steps, making the step progression fair and equitable for everyone.
• We more than doubled charge shift differential: we won $4.50/hour for charge differential, up from current $2.00/hour.
• Increased night shift differential from $2.75/hour to $3.75/hour.
• No more caps on precepting hours, and an increase to preceptor pay to $2.00/hour.
• A $1.00/hour BSN/MSN premium for nurses with their BSN or MSN.
• Dramatically increased PTO accrual caps: 240 max PTO accrual hours for nurses up to their 5^th year anniversary, 300 hours for nurses with 5-10 years, and 360 hours for everyone else.
• 100% PTO cashout if you leave VM Rehab, and an option for an 80% PTO cashout mid-employment.
• A new stand-by/call-back system to improve staffing. Under the new program, if you get low-censused you can be placed on stand-by for up to 8 hours, at $6/hour. If you get called back during that time, you receive time and a half pay for that shift.
• Improved holiday scheduling for night shifters.
• Paid access at the Hospital to CEU modules from the Association of Rehabilitation Nursing, to earn your CEUs and improve your nursing skills.
• And more!

What this means for you: because moving to a different wage program with a true step scale can be a little confusing, below are some examples to illustrate how this would work in practice:

Example 1: you are a 10-year nurse who has been at VM Rehab for 3 years, stuck on Wage Step 7, currently making $45.45 an hour. After ratification, you will be placed on the new Step Scale at Step 10, making $52.24 an hour. In June of 2026, you will be moved to Step 11, making $53.29 an hour. In January 2027, you will get the 3% annual raise, making $54.88 an hour. In June 2027, you will move to Step 12, making $55.98 an hour. In January 2028, you will get the 3% increase and move to $57.66 an hour. In June 2028, you will move to Step 13 and make $58.82 an hour. That amounts to a 15% wage increase after ratification, and a 29% wage increase over the life of the contract.

Example 2: you are a nurse with 25 years of experience or more, you have been capped at $60.00 an hour. After ratification, you will be placed at Step 25 making $70.31 an hour. In January 2027, you will be moved to $72.42 an hour. In June 2017, you will move to Step 26 making $73.87 an hour. In January 2028 you will move to $76.08 an hour. In June 2028 you will move to Step 27, making $77.61 an hour. That amounts to a 17% wage increase after ratification, and a 29% wage increase over the life of the contract.

Example 3: you are a 6-year nurse who was recently hired at Year 5 making $43.29 an hour. After ratification you will be placed on Step 6 making $48.26 an hour. In June 2026 you will move to Step 7 making $49.23 an hour. In January 2027 you will move to $ 49.71 an hour. In June 2027 you will move to Step 8 at $51.72. In January 2028 you will move to $53.27. In June of 2028 you will move to Step 9 at $54.34 an hour. That amounts to an 11% wage increase after ratification, and a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract.

*Important note. As part of our agreement, no nurse will see less than a 4% wage increase upon ratification. In that case, they will get moved up to the next step. Example 4: If you are an 18 year nurse, but you were just recently hired at VM Rehab, you may be at Wage Step 18 already, making $59.79, and thus when the contract went into effect, you would be re-stepped onto Step 18 at the new wage of $61.21. That would only be a 2.37% increase, so instead of being placed onto Step 18, you would be placed onto Step 19 at $62.43, even though you only had 18 years of nursing experience. You would then again move up to Step 20 in June of 2026 making $63.68, and continue moving up and across the grid accordingly. At the end of the contract, you would be making $70.29 at Step 22. That amounts to a 4.4% increase on ratification, and an 18% increase over the life of the contract.

What’s next

We will be hosting virtual and in-person sessions for you to ask questions about the tentative agreement. The virtual sessions will be held on Friday December 12 from 1530-1630 and Saturday December 13 from 1000-1100 on Microsoft Teams. We recommend downloading the Microsoft Teams app prior to the meeting. WE will be holding one in person meeting tentatively set for December 17 form 1430-1530 with a location TBD. We will update you once a location is confirmed.

We will then be voting on the tentative agreement. Tentatively, we have scheduled a virtual vote for December 22, 2025. We need an accurate email address on file for you, so if you don’t get WSNA’s emails please contact Telmore@wsna.org before the vote! Remember, only WSNA members in good standing can cast a ballot.

We know that this contract does not solve all our problems. Your bargaining team fought hard, long into the night, to get you the very best deal they possibly could. The great news is that because we have achieved these big wins in this tentative agreement, we can achieve even greater wins in our next contract negotiations. The bargaining team recommends that you approve this tentative agreement.

Contact membership@wsna.org if you are not getting emails from WSNA. Also, please remember to check your junk mail!

In Solidarity,
Chair Anna Pyfrom, Vice Chair Heather Wantz, Grievance Officer Sabina Karanja, Tracy Jorgensen, Amanda Hensley, Cordula Mote

Please contact WSNA Nurse Rep Travis Elmore Nelson at telmore@wsna.org or 206-575-7979 ext. 3117 with questions or comments.