After sixteen bargaining sessions, an informational picket, over 1,500 letters sent to MultiCare executives, a unanimous advisory vote, speaking at the Puyallup city council, and persistent support and solidarity for our bargaining team, we are proud to announce a Tentative Agreement (TA) your WSNA negotiating team can proudly recommend a YES vote on. 

This contract reminds us that every single gain we make must be protected and can be taken away by management during the next negotiations cycle if we are not ready to defend it. We won additional staffing resources three years ago, and management proposed dissolving those additional resources in every single bargaining session up until today. It isn’t fair that we have to fight so hard to protect our past gains, but it is the reality of bargaining with MultiCare. Every single day we must show up in solidarity, ready to defend our working conditions, our contract, our coworkers. 

While we did not win what we wanted on every issue, we are proud of the significant gains this contract has made – and we are equally proud of the many, many, takeaways we fought off from management. 

Here is a summary of our Tentative Agreement. Your bargaining team recommends a YES vote. Voting will take place electronically on August 11 from 0630-1830. 

HISTORIC WINS: Our team won these improvements despite MultiCare’s historic position that it would never agree to these changes in Pierce County Union contracts.

• END TO CANMs AS CHARGE!
  • MultiCare must give priority to bargaining unit nurses for the charge nurse assignment & provide adequate training for bargaining unit nurses to be charge.
• EMPLOYEE VOICE COMMITTEE!
  • Respect committee to address issues of discrimination
• SELF-SCHEDULING PROTECTIONS!
  • New limits to management discretion on scheduling

Increase to across-the-board wages and premiums:

• Wage Increase: Tacoma Generals wages but moves up our Y2 and Y3 raise to result in higher wages for four additional months.
  • Year 1 – 4% and $2.75 (an average of 7.38%)
  • Year 2 – 3.75% (starting two months sooner on Feb 1, 2027)
  • Year 3 – 3.5% (starting two months sooner on Feb 1, 2028)
• With compounding, an average of 15.46% over the life of the contract, without including step increases.
• As a result of Y2 & Y3 early start: additional $745 to $1,686 depending on FTE
• $500 dollars to each Bargaining Unit member, pro-rated, to settle our Healthy at Work and Educational Funds Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs)
  • For this purpose, 0.9 = 1.0 FTE and per diems = 0.3 FTE
• Increase to preceptor pay (now $2.25)
• Major increase in continuing education funds
  • $750 for FT (prorated for PT), $150 for per diems
  • More funds for per diems than achieved at TG
•  Rest between shift for nurses on procedural units returning from callback or standby
  • Language that gives nurses on procedural units rest between shifts even if they are returning from callback or standby to address call burnout in those units.
• Immediate out of turn low census for float pool nurses
  • Float pool nurses immediately receive their regular rate of pay if they are incorrectly low censused out of turn.
• New night shift differential premium for nurses at step 20 or above
  • Nurses who are at step 20 or above and work on the night shift will now receive a $1 premium.

Fought off takeaways!

• Additional Resources MOU (free flex and charge)
  • Refused management’s many proposals to immediately dissolve the MOU that ensures we get our free flex and free charge nurses as a contract right.
• Severance
  • Fought off MultiCare’s many proposals to cut severance pay for Good Sam nurses with 15+ years of experience.
• Education funds for per diems
  • Fought off MultiCare proposal to take education funds away from per diems.
• Shift differential
  • Fought off MultiCare proposals to shift to a majority of hours worked set-up for getting shift differential.
• Meal and rest MOU
  • Fought off MultiCare proposal to entirely dissolve previously won meal and rest protections and refusal to implement the new settlement.

Other Wins:

• Seniority as the sole factor for day or night shift.
  • Ensures that MultiCare must only look at seniority when considering nurses’ requests to transfer from night to day shift and vice versa.
• First level discipline (PG1s) expire after 1 year!
  • Once expired, PG1s cannot be used to stack on further discipline (PG2, PG3, termination)

We will be holding educational sessions with summaries of this Tentative Agreement in the coming weeks before our vote, which will be electronic for the first time! You can update your personal email here, where the ballot will be set. 

The link will be the same for all of the sessions:

Session #1: Virtually Wednesday, July 29 – 2-3PM
Session #2: Virtually Thursday July 30 – 8-9PM
Session #3: Virtually and in-person Thursday August 6 7-9PM (in-person details tbd)

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/26694933970741?p=dz8Mt6lvRjzvkEUKMS
Meeting ID: 266 949 339 707 41
Passcode: JD2g786y
Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,440787939# United States, Seattle
(888) 313-0615,,440787939# United States (Toll-free)
Find a local number
Phone conference ID: 440 787 939#

What happens next?

After we vote to ratify our contract, we’ll need to continue having a strong, engaged, united bargaining unit. This means that we need at least one union steward on each unit! 

Union Stewards are member leaders that advocate for their coworkers, ensure the WSNA rep and officers know about potential grievances, and communicate union news with their floor. The time commitment is less than 2 hours a month – and most of the work can be done before and after your shift! 

Sign up for our union steward interest form here to be notified of upcoming trainings. 

Thank you to our incredible observers! 

We have had so many nurses show up to observe bargaining – spending their days off to support the team and show management our solidarity. We could not have gotten this deal across the finish line without them. Behind our observers in the picture below are your printed out quotes from the advisory vote. 

And a special thank you to Justin in med-onc, who showed up to every bargaining session where he wasn’t working! 

Make sure your contact information is up to date! 

Make sure your personal email address is up to date here. Only dues-paying members in good standing are able to vote! If you have questions about your email address or membership standing, reach out to glamonte@wsna.org. 

Finally – we want to continue to extend our solidarity to our SEIU union siblings who are still fighting for a fair contract. Their fight is our fight – and we will continue to stand with them until they get a contract that respects the valuable work they do! 

In Solidarity, your WSNA Bargaining Team: 

Co-Chair Savanah James, PCU; Treasurer Aaron Bradley, Palliative Care; Secretary Mindy Groven, PACU; Grievance Officer Emalie Hobi, ED; Jordan Goakey, Family Birth; Nicole Mandeville, ICU; Jennifer Hudson, ED; Jacqueline Dynes, ICU. 

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

Want to get more involved in our union? Reach out to WSNA Organizer Grace at 206-553-9794 or glamonte@wsna.org.