Yesterday we met with management for our fourth bargaining session. We started the day by giving our signed petitions to management. We posted the pages with all of your signatures on the windows behind us, forcing management to have a view of the hundreds of signatures for the entire day.

Being roughly midway through our scheduled negotiating sessions, we are seeing movement on several of our proposals, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Yesterday mostly focused on three topics: wages, benefits, and break relief.

Wages

Overlake presented their counter proposal for wages, together with nurse pay at various hospitals Overlake considers “comparable.” Overlake’s “comps” include hospitals outside the more expensive Seattle/Bellevue area. Overlake’s proposal would result in some more experienced nurses being paid less than the average of even Overlake’s “comps.”. We reiterated the high cost of living in and around Bellevue, even in comparison to Seattle, and countered with our own wage proposal that considers wages at comparable Seattle hospitals, your commute times, and the cost of housing in Bellevue.

Benefits

We don’t see eye to eye on health benefits with Overlake. The negotiation team has heard nurse’s response and dissatisfaction regarding the healthcare benefits at Overlake and have shared anecdotes regarding the insurance coverage, specifically physicians, specialties, and procedures that are not covered with the current plan. Management continues to state that the current health insurance is “richer” than the Premera plan Overlake had in the past. Overlake’s failure to fully respond to our information requests has impaired our ability to make proposals in this area. Please let us know if you would like to come in-person, to share your experiences with the medical benefits at Overlake. Interestingly, First Choice Health is a gold sponsor of the upcoming Overlake Bandage Ball.

Break Relief

Management and the bargaining team agree that the current break relief system is not working, and Overlake presented their counter proposal on break relief. We are working towards finding a solution for the bargaining unit, but there is still more work to be done. You can help us by submitting ADOs when you miss your breaks: wsna.org/ado

While we want to be transparent with our unit members, Overlake management strongly objected to observers. There were dozens of members who were present and ready to show unity with the bargaining team. We are thankful for the great showing and are working to bridge the disconnect with management.

Sign up here to be present for the future negotiation on April 18 and stay tuned for other actions.

In solidarity,

Your negotiation team 
Chris Birchem Ortho/Spine Surgery
Cassie Bundick CCU
Caine Ballew Float Pool
Michele Percosky OPS
Kristin Barnett IPS
Stacey Alvarez ED
Melissa Santos CCU
Balla Sarr Break Relief RN