We met with Management on Monday, May 12 for our fourth joint session with UWMC Montlake and Northwest and will meet again on Thursday May 15. Today, we presented to management a financial analysis of UWMC’s performance for the last 4 years, TLDR version: UWMC is a profitable hospital system, especially compared to the other major hospitals systems in Washington. We also presented our first comprehensive economic proposal for UW Montlake and management made several proposals for both campuses. See details below. We anticipate a comprehensive economic proposal from the employer on Thursday.

Some highlights from our financial analysis:

• Operating revenue increased by 35% from fiscal year 2021 to 2024.
• The government cuts that could impact other areas of the University should not have a large direct impact on UWMC.
• UW Medical Center RNs are 7% behind their Seattle-area peers and will be even further behind when Swedish and Seattle Children’s finalized CBAs in 2025.
• UWMC’s raises in 2023 worked to recruit and retain the highest quality nurses, and they helped put the hospitals in a financially and operationally sustainable position.
• UW Medicine CEO Timothy Dellit: More patients = more revenue. (May 9, 2025, Town Hall).

Come hear management’s take on their financial health and Northwest Nurses’ first comprehensive economic proposal on Thursday!

UWMC Montlake

WSNA proposed:

• 2% market adjustment effective July 1, 2025 to RN2 scale
• 6% wage increase effective July 1, 2025
• 4% wage increase effective July 1, 2026
• An elimination of all ‘Ghost Steps” (those with no annual increase that begin around step 18 and backfills those steps with 1% increase
• The addition of one step for RNs at the top of the current wage scale
• Night shift premium increase from current $4.50/hr to 18% over RN regular rate of pay
• On call premium from $7/hr to 25% of RN straight time hourly rate.  When working into an On Call shift from a regularly scheduled shift (either before or after), RN will receive a 3 hour minimum
• Standby premium when placed on standby whether as part of a regularly scheduled shift or in addition to their FTE to be paid On-Call premium for all hours on standby
• Preceptor Premium from $1.50/hr to 5% for all hours acting as a preceptor.  We also included language that required a minimum of 2 years of RN experience to be assigned preceptor duties.
• STAT RN premium from current $4.00/hr (plus $2.50/hr CN premium) to 15% over the contractual hourly RN rate for all hours worked as a STAT RN.  RN3s would receive 7% premium for all hours worked in the Stat role.
• Weekend Premium from current $4/hr to 12%
• New Dialysis Premium at $4/hr

The Employer proposed:

• Changes to the language in the Grievance Article that aims to speed up the process
• Changes in Education and Staff Development Article that would pay RNs at the “applicable rate of pay” rather than the current “straight time” rate
• Changes in Intermittent Article 30 that adds a 21-day period to discuss termination of appointment and adds Clinical Advisory Premium of $1.50/hr, Resource Vascular Access Premium of $4/hr and a Stat RN premium of $4/hr.
• The employer also proposed retaining, and also terminating, certain MOUs.  Most notably, the employer proposed ending the Double Time (DT) MOU.  This could take a very important tool away from the employer to be able to reconcile staffing shortages.

Your WSNA Montlake Bargaining Team:

Cris Jakubowski - LU Chair - Cath Lab
Doug Harper - Co-Chair - 4SA NICU
Jan Bower - Grievance Officer – OR
Erika Speckhardt - Unit Rep - 5SA CTICU
Melissa Sanchez - Unit Rep - 5S
Lizzy Ryden - Unit Rep – ED
Melissa Humphrey - Unit Rep - Digestive Health
Amber Callison - 7SA
Sorrel Orr - Unit Rep - 7SE
Mark Beaumont - 5SA CTICU

UWMC Northwest

The Northwest team will present our economic proposal on Thursday May 15.

Employer proposed:

• Changes to the language in the Grievance Article that aims to speed up the process
• Changes in Intermittent Article that identifies premiums and articles that apply to Intermittent RNs:
• Evening shift Diff, Night Shift Diff, Standby, Weekend, Certification, BSN, Low Census Standby and cross entity float
• Additionally, they proposed adding language that would pay RNs the pay for education and processional leave at the “applicable rate of pay” rather than the current straight time language
• The employer also proposed retaining and conversely, the desire to terminate some MOUs. Most notably, the employer proposed ending the Double Time (DT) MOU. This could take a very important tool away from the employer to be able to reconcile staffing shortages.

Your WSNA NW Bargaining Team:

Elizabeth Gebretsadik - LU Chair – Float
Kaitlyn Fochs - LU Vice Chair – CBC
Mary Stupek - Grievance Officer – Float
Alec Willis - Grievance Officer – Float
Trish Bouzek - Grievance Officer – SPU
Celis Serrano – LTCC
Anthony Snyder - CPU

Negotiations are heating up! We can’t do it without all of you. Each of us can do three simple things right now to secure a strong contract. 

1. Come observe bargaining in action!

We need as many observers as possible for Thursday’s fifth joint negotiation session. Please arrive at 10 am at the Gateway building at 4320 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105. You can stay for part of or the whole day, we’re on the 2^nd floor. Please text WSNA Organizer Zach at 206-406-7203 to get access to the upstairs conference room area. We expect to hear management's response to our Economic proposal —come see what they have to say for yourself!

We encourage observers to sign up here so we can keep track of how many people plan on attending (it helps when we order food), but you are not required to sign up to observe. Observers make a huge difference in holding management accountable and keeping our process transparent. Please make sure to read this guide to observing negotiations before coming Thursday!

2. Stay in the loop! 

Make sure you've joined our private Facebook group, follow us on Instagram and read the email updates. You can update your info and find our socials here. Don’t get WSNA emails updates? Follow this guide to whitelist newsletter@wsna.org.

3. Sign the Petition! 

Sign the petition to show solidarity with our bargaining team as we continue our fight for a strong contract. Ask any bargaining team member for a petition or print a copy here! You can send petition signatures to wsna.uwmontlake@gmail.com or wsna.uwnorthwest@gmail.com or text them to WSNA Organizer Zach at 206-406-7203.

Negotiation Dates:

April 8
April 14 At NW Campus
April 17 At NW Campus
April 23** at UW Gateway Building
April 24** Virtual at NW Campus
May 8 Montlake Team
May 12**
May 15**
May 22**
May 27 Montlake Team
June 3**
June 17**
**Planned Joint Session

You can contact WSNA Northwest Nurse Representative Stephenie Troftgruben at stroftgruben@wsna.org or WSNA Montlake Nurse Representative Ed Zercher at ezercher@wsna.org