We had our fifth bargaining session on Friday, 4/9. In addition to management’s last claim that their break system works great most of the time, they now say that break buddies are supposed to be the last resort mechanism to get our breaks but refuse to acknowledge that that is the only way most of us get our breaks! They cited the NICU staffing plan, which has break relief and resources nurses build into its staffing plan, as an example that works and repeated that it is their “expectation” that breaks would work this way. This is precisely the point of our proposal that the Hospital hire more break relief nurses – when we have break and relief nurses built into staffing, we can get our legally and contractually mandated breaks.

We also exchanged more economic proposals and stood firm in stating that the maintenance of our PTO remains a top priority. An unfortunate side effect of management’s slow movement is that we are burning through our personal PTO to continue these negotiations. We know this is easier said than done with COVID and this last year, but please consider donating PTO hours to the team so we can continue to fight for a fair contract. Even one hour helps. The form is at the link below.

We need the support of all nurses, now more than ever. If you are not already, please consider becoming a WSNA member. The more members we have, the more power we have to get Management to listen. Additionally, only members are able to vote on the contract when the times comes.

Please see our video testimonies and bargaining updates on our private facebook group. Contact Zach Seikel, WSNA Organizer, if you need an invitation to join zseikel@wsna.org, all Overlake Nurses are welcome.

In Solidarity,

Gemma Aranda BSN RN, PACU

And the bargaining team:

Chris Birchem, Sharon Sims, Pauline Whitney-Hille, Cassie Bundick, Kathryn Geren, Janet Moore-Lane