Yesterday, October 30, your bargaining team met with management for day three of negotiations. A lot happened at the table, but let’s start with the big news.

We reached a tentative agreement that no nurse will be required to float outside of the NICU. This effectively makes the NICU a closed unit and represents a major win for NICU nurses. This success is the result of months of hard work, organizing, and persistence before negotiations even began.

We also reached tentative agreements on two other important improvements:
 • Progressive Guidance 1s (PG1s) will no longer be used for progressive discipline after one year.
 • Creation of a NICU-specific Conference Committee that will not be shared with UFCW or the rest of Mary Bridge.

Your team also passed our economic proposal, which would bring Mary Bridge NICU RNs to the top of the market and includes increases to education, certification, and weekend pay. We also proposed a new structure for the night shift differential that rewards experience and helps retain seasoned nurses:
 • $6 per hour for nurses with less than five years of experience
 • $8 per hour for nurses with five or more years of experience

These are important wins, but the toughest issues are still ahead. We know we have a fight coming on low census, ensuring that the charge nurse role is filled by a union nurse, and getting staffing ratios back into our contract like we had before the split from TG. It may be spooky season, but your bargaining team is not afraid to take on these challenges. We are ready to fight for the contract that Mary Bridge NICU nurses deserve.

Our next bargaining session will be on Wednesday, November 19 at the Auburn Corporate Center. We invite any NICU RN who would like to observe negotiations to attend in person. This is a great opportunity to see how a contract is made while showing management that we stand together. If you are interested in attending, email Sam Scholl at SScholl@WSNA.org.

We will be back at the table on December 3, 10, and 19. Our contract expires on December 31 at midnight, and every show of solidarity matters as we move into the final stretch.

In the meantime, join us for the next Rosie’s Roundup on December 12 at 2000 to hear more about negotiations and get your questions answered. You can join by following the link below.

Together we are proving that when nurses stand united, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Happy Halloween.