Two separate contracts. One mission.

On May 8, our Montlake bargaining team, along with the Northwest team met together for the first half of the day.

Your Montlake and Northwest bargaining teams focused on UWMC’s financial health. We spent our morning in caucus working with WSNA’s Researcher analyzing the employer’s relative financial health, notably, that its net operating income is the highest it’s been in the past four years. We also worked on finalizing our economic proposals so that we can present them at the bargaining table next week.

Your Montlake team of RNs met with the employer in the afternoon to present our proposal on civil duty (think jury duty), which would allow time spent on civil duty to count towards your FTE for the week. So, for example, if you are a .9 FTE on jury duty Monday – Thursday you can’t be forced to work the weekend to satisfy your FTE. Additionally, a nurse could not, under our proposed language, be scheduled to work a shift 12 hours before or after serving civil duty. We also proposed creating a new premium for dialysis work. The employer heard from WSNA team members Amber Callison and Mark Beaumont who have extensive dialysis experience, explain the challenges and rigors unique to that work.

Lastly, we received several housekeeping type proposals for some language modifications from the employer.

Currently, we are working hard to get all of our non-economic proposals on the table. We are back in bargaining together with the Northwest team on 5/12 and 5/15. We aim to start our discussion with management on economics next week.

We had a great turn out of observers for our caucus time as well as time spent meeting with the employer.  We encourage all RNs who are curious about the process or desire to stand united with your bargaining team, to show up for all or part of the bargaining on Monday May 12 or Thursday May 15 (Time and address below is the same for either day.

UWMC Montlake

Your WSNA Montlake Bargaining Team:
Cris Jakubowski - LU Chair - Cath Lab
Doug Harper - Co-Chair - 4SA NICU
Jan Bower - Grievance Officer – OR
Erika Speckhardt - Unit Rep - 5SA CTICU
Melissa Sanchez - Unit Rep - 5S
Lizzy Ryden - Unit Rep – ED
Melissa Humphrey - Unit Rep - Digestive Health
Amber Callison - 7SA
Sorrel Orr - Unit Rep - 7SE
Mark Beaumont - 5SA CTICU

UWMC Northwest

Your WSNA NW Bargaining Team:
Elizabeth Gebretsadik - LU Chair – Float
Kaitlyn Fochs - LU Vice Chair – CBC
Mary Stupek - Grievance Officer – Float
Alec Willis - Grievance Officer – Float
Trish Bouzek - Grievance Officer – SPU
Celis Serrano – LTCC
Anthony Snyder - CPU

The bad news? Management thinks their proposals are acceptable. The good news? Everyone can do something to show them otherwise. Here are a few of the ways you can get involved.

1. Come observe bargaining in action!

The next session will be on May 12 at the UW Gateway building (4320 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105) above the new light rail station. Please arrive at 10 am, there is street parking available, however we encourage folks to take the light rail if able to. We are on the 2^nd floor, please text WSNA Organizer Zach at 206-406-7203 to get access to the upstairs conference room area. We expect to hear management's Economic proposal —come see what they have to say for yourself!

We encourage observers to sign up here so we can keep track of how many people plan on attending (it helps when we order food), but you are not required to sign up to observe. If you plan on observing, please make sure to read through this document so you know what to expect.

Can’t make it to observe? You can join your bargaining team for a virtual drop-in Microsoft Teams meeting after each bargaining session from 6-7pm. Join via this Teams link, or you can dial in on your phone here: +1 206-485-2614,,611768742#

2. Stay in the loop! 

Make sure you've joined our private Facebook group, follow us on Instagram and verify you get WSNA emails. You can update your info and find our socials here. As we continue negotiations, it's crucial to read the email updates and stay informed about what's happening at the table. For any questions get in touch with your negotiation team at wsna.uwmontlake@gmail.com or wsna.uwnorthwest@gmail.com

3. Sign the Petition! 

Sign the petition to show solidarity with our bargaining team as we continue our fight for a strong contract. Ask any bargaining team member for a petition or print a copy here! You can send petition signatures to wsna.uwmontlake@gmail.com or wsna.uwnorthwest@gmail.com or text them to WSNA Organizer Zach at 206-406-7203.

Negotiation Dates:

April 8
April 14 At NW Campus
April 17 At NW Campus
April 23** at UW Gateway Building
April 24** Virtual at NW Campus
May 8 Montlake Team
May 12**
May 15**
May 22**
May 27 Montlake Team
June 3**
June 17**

**Planned Joint Session

You can contact WSNA Northwest Nurse Representative Stephenie Troftgruben at stroftgruben@wsna.org or WSNA Montlake Nurse Representative Ed Zercher at ezercher@wsna.org