August 24, 2023, 5:30 -6:30 p.m. and 7:30 -8:40 p.m.

Bring your questions, concerns and ideas!

This will be a hybrid meeting, in-person in the Columbia Room III and virtually on Microsoft Teams.  

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer, mobile app or room device 
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 214 816 201 858
Passcode: Ls9iaQ
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Join with a video conferencing device
571147130@t.plcm.vc
Video Conference ID: 119 356 257 2
Alternate VTC instructions
Or call in (audio only)
+1 509-904-0815,,205898157#   United States, Spokane
Phone Conference ID: 205 898 157#

Staffing Committee

This committee meets monthly and is co-chaired by Meri Bukovinsky and Kirk Harper. It is mandated by law and described within the collective bargaining agreement. (See 15.3-15.3 in the Collective Bargaining Agreement)

The Staff nurse committee members:
Meri Bukovinsky-CDU, Jamie Woodall-FSED, Anita Dennis-PAU, Melissa Morris- KCHO, Brent Knutzen-CCU, Nikki May-CCU and Kaitlyn Meyers-Resource.

This committee reviews Assignment Despite Objection (ADOs) submissions. Every time a nurse submits, it is sent to WSNA and Nurse Rep. It then is emailed to Kirk Harper, Meri Bukovinsky, and the unit manager. It is the responsibility of the manager to have a verbal conversation about the ADO as well as submit a written response to the nurse and the committee. If this is not happening to you, we want to know.

If there is any patient harm or safety concern, this includes staff safety, please file a QRR in addition to an ADO.

The committee to review or in the process of reviewing:
June: 5 (FSED-1, CL Pre Post-1, ED-2, ICU-1)
July: 4 (PACU-1, Pediatrics-2, 7RP-1) 

The committee reports current positions:

June: open positions: 86
July: open positions: 84
*12% turnover rate in 12 months

Discussion surrounding 3:1 ratios at times in ICU, EVS concerns in CL Pre Post, RNs wanting to change to Per Diem and none available resulting in RNs leaving Kadlec, the “over” scheduling surgeries and procedures leaving CL Pre Post and CDU with more patients with less staff and concerns of education being denied.

SEIU representatives attended as they are preparing for CNAs to participate in the committee beginning January 2023.

Conference Committee

This committee meets monthly with the Officers, Kirk Harper, Toby Sutton HR. The many topics that we have been discussing: 

• Lactation- UPDATE: The identified areas for new lactation spaces or Mamava (free standing units) by Meri and HR will need to be revisited with the interim HR director.
• OR-Cath lab hybrid cases- OR crew coming to CL for cases under CL cost center-interim HR director will need to review.
• Virtual Nursing- Kirk Harper states that he has not been provided with any specific information from Providence at this time. WSNA has received the Request for Information.
• LPN RN experience. An LOU (Letter of Understanding) has been drafted by Kadlec and WSNA changes have been sent in. This will define the process in which RNs with LPN service may seek consideration for wage grade advancement. We want to include the grievance process if there are disputes.
• ACLS/PALS education reimbursement. A manager has been denying pay for the time the RN has spent on the course. The rationale being, “other staff can complete in 4 hrs., so should you.”
• TAVR/Hybrid cases where OR is having to clock into Cath Lab. This is not in their float cluster- interim HR Director and Kirk Harper need to review.
• 2 VP overflow and what departments would receive float pay if RN is required to work in this area. PACU and CL Pre Post have both identified space need for overflow. These units would not receive float pay as this will be an extension of their unit.
• 1910 policy. Recent concerns have warranted a review and update of this policy.
• PTO clarification-There had been messages from managers telling RNs that they could only use PTO in increments of 12 hours. An example is that an RN had completed the education modules earlier than expected and wanted to use 6 hours of PTO. The manager told the RN that they could not use just 6 hours per policy. The prior HR director, Toby was looking into this before he resigned. He thought this was a communication issue. The interim director is now reviewing this.
• Amion: RNs are not able to see who is on shift and direct phone numbers. Kirk Harper will be looking into this.

Workplace Exposures

We have been hearing about staff exposure to illicit substances. This is an issue we have spoken at length with Kadlec leadership in Staffing Committee and Conference Committee. The 1910 policy has been updated, however, there remains a safety concern for staff.

First, ensure staff, self, patients, and visitors are safe. Report the incident immediately to leadership and security. Seek evaluation in the ED and file L&I claim (just as you would with a needle stick) via Sedgwick on the HR Portal, consider filing a police report.Complete an ADO and a QRR. For further action you may file with the agencies below.

Labor and Industries:  Safety Complaints (wa.gov)
Department of Health: File a Complaint | Washington State Department of Health
The Joint Commission: Report a Patient Safety Concern or File a Complaint | The Joint Commission

Investigatory Meetings

If you are notified by you manager that you must attend an investigatory meeting, please invoke your Weingarten Rights (On the other side of your badge buddy) You have the right to have your Grievance Officer (Anita Dennis) or your Nurse Representative (Laurie Robinson) to attend. If there is an outcome meeting with any corrective action, a grievance may be filed, it MUST be done within 14 days.

Grievances

Currently there are 6 active grievances and 5 that have moved to arbitration. Our Grievance Officer, Anita Dennis, PACU RN attends investigatory meetings and grievance meetings whenever possible. Her work is imperative in seeking out information related to what we are seeing as current problems. Some issues are only in one unit and others are throughout the facility. If we are able to resolve this through discussion at the Conference Committee this alleviates the need for the grievance process.

SANE RNs are being denied further training beyond the initial training and denied the bonus when performing a non-fatal strangulation examination this grievance has moved to Step 3 and will be heard on August 11 at 0800. If you are interested in attending (virtually) please send a text message to Laurie Robinson, Nurse Representative 206-620-4136.

OR RNs are being told that they must float to Sterile Process Department before they can take Low Census. The SPD is not a nursing unit within the float cluster for the OR RNs, This should be an ask, not a demand. A Step 3 meeting was held August 7.

Rate of Pay/Wage Step placement-Review of service hours and the inability for Per Diem RNs to view lifetime hours. This grievance is at Step 3 and awaiting the response from the employer.

Genesis- The calculation of OT is running amok as an FLSA calculation is being used to determine the rate, not what the CBA states.

Regular Rate of Pay- The CBA defines the RN’s regular rate of pay as base, education, and certification premiums, per diem premium. This is how rates of OT should be calculated, not separate. It makes a difference when OT is calculated! There are two grievances that are being argued with this issue. Both are at Step 3. One, we are awaiting a response and the second will be argued on August 31.

Payroll Discrepancies- This has been filed for All Affected as a result of RNs finding their July 21 paycheck with large numbers of retro OT and DT that is extremely difficult in determining accuracies. We have asked for a full audit of each RNs pay for the past year. This grievance has been placed in abeyance until we have been able to receive the information for review. If we have not heard from you and you have experienced this, please open a claim with the HR service center on the employee portal and let us know!

Unit Reps

We are still looking for Unit Reps. The training is free. If you are interested in keeping your unit quickly informed sign up for a class today!

If you have questions, contact Ryan Rosenkranz, our Nurse Organizer, at rrosenkranz@wsna.org or 206-867-4627.

For any questions or concerns please contact one of the Officers or Nurse Rep
Meri Bukovinsky (CDU) Chair  
  Cell: 208-739-3439   hart.meri@gmail.com
Jamie Woodall (FSED) Co-Chair
  Cell: 509-572-1091  jamie.orr237@gmail.com
Vanessa Douglas (ICU) Secretary/Treasurer  
  Cell: 352-682-0342  vanessa.p.douglas@gmail.com
Yaamen Aldaas (9 RP) Member at Large  
  Cell: 509-771-0326  yaamen.aldaas@gmail.com
Anita Dennis (PAU) Grievance Officer  
  Cell: 509-781-3011  ardennis@rocketmail.com
Zak Gagnon (ICU) Member At Large
Cell: 509-551-5264 zak.gagnon@yahoo.com 

Laurie Robinson, Nurse Representative
Cell: 206-620-4136  lrobinson@wsna.org

WSNA Membership

If you are not a WSNA member please consider completing a membership application today! Just click on the link!

YOU ARE WSNA!