We are excited to bring you our next edition of our union news! In this update you’ll find the following

• Temporary WSNA Nurse Rep Change
• Leadership Wrap Up, Heroes Wrap Up
• Grievance Update- Seniority
• Union 101 SAVE THE DATE
• Tips for filing ADOs

Laurie Robinson will be our new WSNA Nurse Representative beginning Monday May 4, 2026! Alle Machorro is out on maternity leave and we are very excited to welcome Laurie with all her experience.

She previously represented Providence Kadlec nurses and is familiar with the system we work for. She is an experienced representative and we are excited to have her! Nurses with questions, concerns, or needing representation should continue to seek out their officers and email Laurie at lrobinson@wsna.org

Our WSNA Leadership convention wrapped up this past weekend, and we had amazing representation from our Spokane region! Local nurse officers and stewards attended this convention gaining valuable skills and training in areas including local leadership, how to be a steward, how to sit for investigation meetings with HR and so much more! Our union regularly offers opportunities for our nurses to get involved with costs typically covered. Contact us if you’re interested in getting more involved.

A HUGE thank you to our union nurses who volunteered to support the Heroes Homestead race! Four of our Holy Family Nurses volunteered their Saturday morning supporting veterans and their families by providing basic first aid on the racecourse of the Heroes Homestead Walk! If you know of any community opportunities our nurses can support- let us know!

Let’s talk about seniority- as you can see it’s clearly defined in our contract with a simple sentence. As clean as this language appears, our union has uncovered that Holy Family has been misinterpreting and misapplying seniority for years. This came to light recently when a position was inappropriately awarded based on incorrect seniority. Holy Family has been giving credit to nurses for prior time in the bargaining unit. For example, if a nurse was in our union for three years, left to be a manager, and then came back, the Employer was giving them credit for their first three years.

Our contract does not permit this. 

Why does it matter? It matters because our contract is a legally binding agreement. The Employer is not authorized to make their own interpretations. Misapplied or miscredited seniority could have sweeping implications in the event of a layoff and impacts nurses when they are applying for positions.

Our union will be arbitrating a grievance on this misapplication of seniority, and our remedy is that the Employer make it right by our nurses. Their actions have created a really dangerous situation for our nurses, and we take seniority and our contract seriously. Please stay tuned to our communications as we walk through this arbitration.

Did you know the second Tuesday of every month we have a local union meeting? We run these on Microsoft Teams from 8-9pm. Local union meetings are a great way to drop in, get updates on committees, grievances, and what is happening with our working conditions. It’s also a great place to learn new information! As we are looking to bargain our next contract, we want all our members to be educated on how our union advocates for us and how we can be more involved.

We will be using our June 2, 2026, local union meeting to host our Union 101 training! This training, created by our very own Emily Troyer will equip you with the big three of our union- reporting unsafe staffing, Weingarten or representation rights, and grievances (contract violations). Our contract is only as strong as the nurses who know what is inside of it and how to exercise their rights. Join us for this one-hour meeting June 2, 2026. Link will go to your personal email on file a few days prior.

What matters when filing an ADO or staffing form? What does the law actually say about numbers of nurses and patients?

The law does not speak to ratios of numbers of nurses to patients. If you file an ADO and describe that you had 7 patients, the hospital staffing committee may not be able to investigate that if your total number of nurses was within the plan.

Increase our own understanding of the law and report smarter! What we do know is the Employer IS using a break buddy system. When a nurse clocks out for their meal period, they are not providing break nurses which inherently lowers the minimum number of nurses available to the unit. THIS is the language we’d like our nurses to focus on when they are reporting unsafe staffing. Our complaints should include the following information when possible-

• Include the census, required minimum staffing standards from the staffing plan and the actual staffing levels. This is critical information. The law does not address ratios, so including complaint information that talks about the number of patients assigned to one nurse isn’t essential. If your plan requires 9 nurses and you only have 8 because someone clocked out for their break, give those numbers.
  • Nurses can include in their complaints that the number of nurses providing direct patient care is less than the required staffing during meal and rest breaks and we do not use break nurses

We know nurses don’t always know how best to write these complaints but including the above information will be essential to help our committee evaluate whether there is patterned break buddy use and those complaints should be unresolved and investigated by the Department of Health. Complaints that are unresolved for 60 days will be investigated by the Department of Health.

Remember: Break buddies are not safe, our patients deserve better. Multiple hospitals in Washington state are already and have been using break nurses. Why do our patients and staff deserve anything less?

Questions? Reach out to one of our local union officers or our WSNA Nurse Representative Laurie Robinson at lrobinson@wsna.org