Yesterday we completed two very long days of back-to-back negotiations with Providence Holy Family Hospital.

Throughout these concentrated negotiations, WSNA has pressed Holy Family Hospital to pay our nurses competitive wages which reflect the value our nurses bring to Providence by achieving Magnet status.  We have made progress on wages, but we are not there yet.

In addition to the tentative agreements that we have secured such as a new SANE nurse premium and increases in standby pay, night shift differential and preceptor pay, we have made progress toward establishing an official float pool with a premium attached. We also successfully fought off Holy Family’s proposal to eliminate the current contractual sabbatical leave and replace it with a substandard replacement.

We have proposed adding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a holiday, which many hospitals have recognized for years.  Thus far, Holy Family has insisted that our nurses give up one of our three personal holidays in exchange for adding MLK Day as a holiday.  This does not seem to us to be an appropriate way for an employer to “honor” Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy.

We have also made progress in fending off unacceptable, negative proposals that Holy Family made regarding health insurance. Yet, we still have work to be done on several important issues, so that we can achieve the contract that Holy Family nurses deserve.

Want to get involved? Become a local unit liaison TODAY!

Questions? Email your WSNA Nurse Representative Alle Machorro at amachorro@wsna.org.