CCU group grievance moves to step 3 per article 18 of your WSNA contract regarding breach of the contract language, including but not limited to the approved staffing plan over many months. While hiring has increased, consistent compliance has yet to be achieved. We have remained open to any employer proposal that meets the heart of the remedy the CCU nurses are seeking: a demonstration to consistently adhering to staffing and break relief for the unit with staff, charge, flex and rapid response nurses and PCT’s as defined by the plan that was presented and approved by the hospital staffing committee for 2025.  Stay tuned for updates following the June 20^th meeting with the Chief Nursing Officer and Chief People Officer.

While the hospital may low census staff nurses following specific criteria per the terms of the contract article 9.7, many nurses are communicating with your union officers and Nurse Representative some serious concerns. These include, depleting PTO hours to cover increased frequency of low census, concern for being low censused out of order, being late started and having time cards changed, resulting in loss of OT pay that would result from having less than 10 hours time off for rest between shifts, receiving less than the defined notice from the hospital, the unit low censusing nurses when the census would actually support the nurse(s) NOT being low censused.  We requested information regarding these issues and discussed it at the June conference committee meeting. Some errors have been found based upon our request that the hospital investigate these concerns.

Additionally, it is necessary to continue assessing these based upon the frequency of concerns in certain departments. We have communicated that better support for communication between nursing, staffing, shift administrators and leadership occurs to minimize the frequency. We also discussed implementation of the shared leave program per article 13.9 of your contract. While there are eligibility requirements to participate, it may help to lessen the financial hardship that nurses experience because of depleting PTO as a result of low census (or other causes such as illness). Stay tuned for more as we anticipate a response from Overlake on initiating the shared leave provisions. Please note, timecards may NOT be changed by the hospital without your informed consent. If your timecard has been changed and you did not consent or felt pressure to make the change, notify HR. If the matter is not resolved, contact a WSNA officer or the Nurse Representative.

This week marks the three months since the initiation of the new timekeeping practice, wherein nurses are paid for each minute they work and the past practice of rounding to the quarter hour is no more. Thank you to the nurses who provided important input that helped show where the challenges have been occurring and the reasons why, including a lack of clear, supportive communication with department leadership to adjust to the new practice. Based upon our continued sharing of the data (not names of nurses) with Overlake, the IT department has been evaluating those areas for clocking practices. At this time, there is at least one area that may have another time clock installed. Additional workstation computers to clock in is still in evaluation.

Evaluation of the donning and doffing departments is still in-process. We have already communicated that the additional minutes required to don and doff hospital scrubs and succeed with the new timekeeping practice is a common and reasonable practice that WSNA has negotiated contract language at other facilities. In the interim, please continue to clock in and out before and after donning and doffing, as that is paid work time. We look forward to a resolution of this challenge in a way that works for the nursing staff and the hospital. As promised, here is the 3^rd survey, very quick and simple, to help identify progress or continued challenges on this transition. Survey closes July 5th. We will persist with this until a favorable resolution occurs.

A special shout out to the many IPS and URT nurses who have communicated with us and each other to raise a change in working conditions. Thanks to the unified approach and commitment to support each other for safe patient care and the integrity of their professional practice, Overlake is now working to approach this change in a different manner. We look forward to supporting these nurses to participate in an open discussion to provide the necessary clarity and adherence to your WSNA contract. Way to go IPS and URT!

Overlake notified WSNA that fair labor standard act (FLSA) status corrections have occurred for several WSNA nurses whose pay status was incorrectly coded, previously. While we became aware of instances of this, the hospital found it affected more employees and has notified nurses that their FLSA status has been corrected. As a result, nurses who work beyond their scheduled shift and/or beyond 40 hours per week, will make overtime pay as expected. This correction does not reflect a takeaway of any kind. If you notice irregularities with your pay, always ensure you are confirming your timecards and submitting correction forms to payroll if you find errors after the fact. If you believe the error has not been corrected after you have done so, contact HR. If it is not resolved, contact a local unit officer or the Nurse Representative.

It is not too late to be the 3^rd WSNA member on this committee (or an alternate). Message your chair Chris Birchem or Nurse Rep Tara is you are willing to make a difference to inform the employer about affordable healthcare benefits and plans prior to open enrollment for 2026.

We recently learned that an OCED will be opened in Lynnwood later this year. Our understanding is that 15 FTE or positions would be posted internally first, for any nurses desiring to transfer to the OCED. Continuing to follow our WSNA contract language, the job postings will be made available to external candidates. The hospital has shared that it is the intent that WSNA is included in this development with respect to the represented nurses. Stay tuned for updates, as we determine what effects may be, in order to represent these nurses for collective bargaining as part of the Overlake RN contract.

We will notify you when we have space confirmed for distribution opportunities, in addition to virtual local unit meetings to focus on increasing familiarity with your union contract and rights at Overlake.

In unity,

Chris Birchem OSS, Chair
Heidi Scharnitzke LnD, Secretary
Crissy Sekine IMI, Treasurer
Stacey Alvarez ED, Grievance Officer
Katie Gugliotta ED, Grievance Officer
Brandon Yokoyama ED, Membership Officer

A special shoutout to welcome Michael Golembo from IMI who has joined the membership team to provide the WSNA presentation to new RNs at Overlake!

Tara Barnes, Nurse Representative

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