Starting this Wednesday (2/25) evening, and continuing through Friday (2/27) at noon, we will be voting ONLINE to ratify our new contract with Fresenius. Below is a summary of the changes to the contract. You can also access a full “redline” copy of the new contract by following this link.

THE BIGGEST WIN

“Pay-in-lieu” for Per Diem Nurses: Following ratification of the new contract, per diem nurses will begin receiving seven percent (7%) pay-in-lieu of benefits. Pay-in-lieu is a norm in WSNA’s contracts with hospitals around Washington state, and helps address pay inequity for nurses working per diem shifts that do not receive regular benefits. While we hope to improve upon the percentage in future rounds of negotiations, we are proud to bring for a vote a major improvement in compensation. We believe nurses under our contract will be some of the first, if not the only, per diem nurses working for Fresenius that receive pay-in-lieu compensation. (ARTICLE 14)

OTHER WINS

Annual Wage Increases: Our wages will increase 3% in the first year, 2.5% in the second year, and 2% in the final year of the contract. While these improvements are lower than we had hoped to achieve, they are in-line with our UFCW-represented co-workers at Fresenius. (ARTICLE 14)

Ratification Bonus: Upon ratification, all nurses will receive at $1,500.00 bonus. This amount is the same for all nurses, irrespective of your part time or full time status. (ARTICLE 14)

Charge Nurse Premium: Bargaining unit nurses assigned to fill a charge role will receive a five percent (5%) premium when performing charge duties. (ARTICLE 14)

Bulletin Boards: We successfully removed language requiring notifying management in advance regarding the posting of Union news and information on our bulletin boards at all clinics. (ARTICLE 4)

Union Orientation: We won the right to provide union orientation to new employees. (ARTICLE 6)

Non-Discrimination: We improved our non-discrimination language in the contract to ensure that any/all new protections elaborated in local, state, or federal law are enforceable under our Union contract. (ARTICLE 7)

Bargaining Unit “Erosion” Protection: We successfully strengthened contractual provisions that prevent Fresenius from utilizing temps to forego hiring permanent full-time and part-time employees. (ARTICLE 9)

401(k) Improvements: We updated the 401(k) language to ensure that Union-represented nurses have the same access to any profit-sharing distributions that would benefit other, non-Union Fresenius employees. (ARTICLE 15)

More Clarity Around Float Rules & Benefits: We bargained improvements to the language regarding floats in a few ways:

• Made it clear that permanent employees have the opportunity to volunteer to float prior to the assignment of agency/travel nurses to float roles, and;
• Clarified the policies and procedures that apply to float travel, and codified that Union nurses that float will receive the same travel benefits as any/all non-Union nurses. (ARTICLE 18)

Low Census: Added language to the contract that requires Fresenius to LC floats from non-Union clinics before low-censusing Union nurses. (ARTICLE 22)

AGREEMENTS WITH EMPLOYER

As part of the new contract, the Employer insisted on changing the  “effective date” language for our wage increases to match that of the UFCW-represented employees. Specifically, in the new contract, wage increases will become effective the second pay period following ratification, and that wage increases in Years 2 and 3 of the agreement will be implemented on the second pay period following the anniversary of ratification (i.e. February 27). While we fought to retain our current language about the effective date of wage increases, the Employer took the position that their last proposal was a “last, best, and final” offer. While disappointing, we believe the new contract represents a significant net improvement for nurses at Fresenius.

BONNEY LAKE!

Our colleague at Bonney Lake has informed Fresenius that Bonney Lake is ready to join the Union!

As part of our negotiations, we asked the Employer to voluntarily recognize the Union at Bonney Lake by adding the location to the list of clinics covered by the contract.

Unsurprisingly, they refused.

WSNA will stand strong in our effort to continue growing the Union at Fresenius and will keep everyone posted on next steps as we grow nurse power at Fresenius!

HOW TO VOTE

 Voting on the Tentative Agreement

• Electronic voting opens: Wednesday, February 25 at 1900.
• Closes: Friday, February 27, at 0800.
• Results: Released shortly after voting closes.

Ballots will be emailed to your personal email on file with WSNA. Only members in good standing can vote.

If you need help voting or have questions, we’ll be having virtual question and answer sessions. The first will be Wednesday, February 25 at 1800, and Thursday, February 26 at 1000.

QA SESSIONS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 at 18:00
https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/21398198958109?p=ueRUoe4bVzSfviR8Ga
Meeting ID: 213 981 989 581 09 
Passcode: 6GH6CB6w

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26 at 10:00
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/24737324527034?p=7wem0aYgw0Cq3xg7pP
Meeting ID: 247 373 245 270 34 
Passcode: fm3K8Sh2

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your nurse representative, Stephenie Troftgruben (stroftgruben@wsna.org)