Thank you to the observers that attended today! Your presence made an impact. Creating a sea of Blue WSNA shirts for management to stare at during bargaining showed them that Island RNs are serious about a fair contract. We reached a tentative agreement on Loudermill Hearings (pre-determination meeting) of at least 5 days after receiving charges and the associated evidence. Management moved on other proposals getting closer to what many other WSNA members have. Today the team made our economic proposal which left management staring in the face of what is needed to be done to bring Island Health in line with the market.

To those of you who stood strong and wore your shirts at the hospital a sincere thank you. You can hold yourself in high esteem knowing that you stood up for your rights. WSNA fervently maintains the position that wearing shirts is act of protected activity under the law. Island Health may disagree stating that their arbitrary dress code suddenly prohibits all t-shirts while also regulating the type of undergarments you can wear to work.  WSNA has pointed out that Island Health does not consistently enforce their own dress code policy. So consistent with Football Friday’s we ask everyone to wear their WSNA shirts on Friday to support the WSNA football team. 

For anyone who can attend the Board of Commissioners meeting tomorrow morning  at 8am in the Cypress room to support the nurses speaking to them, that would be greatly appreciated. Letting the commissioners know what issues nurses are facing rather than letting them hear management’s interpretation of what is going on. 

Lastly, as discussed today, ADOs are a powerful tool at the table. Hearing some of the examples of workplace violence that were shared in caucus today, are truly concerning. WSNA keeps nurse safety as a high priority and we look forward to fighting to keep Island safe. 

We return to the table next Tuesday! We hope to see you there. For more information and updates we look forward to seeing you at the bargaining update Thursday at 5:30pm. 

In Solidarity, 
Christen Siedler
Ron Brutton
Clarisa Shook
Sarah O’Connell
Chris Fowler
Robin Cully

For questions or concerns, contact your officers or your Nurse Representative Robin Cully at rcully@wsna.org.