WSNA nurses at PeaceHealth Southwest and PeaceHealth St. John’s,

At our last contract bargaining, we bargained “placeholder” language that said we could negotiate a Professional Nurses Advancement Program (a “PNAP”) – aka a clinical ladder – sometime before our next contract. Recently, PeaceHealth management asked both hospitals to sit down and negotiate the PNAP. Many of us had heard about this program at Orientation, for example. The CNE for the clinics at St. John’s sent many emails and had a training program earlier this year to educate the clinic nurses on what a PNAP would look like for them. A PNAP/clinical ladder is often a critical part of a hospital’s magnet journey.

Our WSNA sisters and brothers up at PeaceHealth St. Joe’s in Bellingham negotiated their PNAP earlier this year. The Union helped build that program from the ground up, crafted language to ensure that nurses who applied would get a fair and unbiased opportunity to participate (and earn an additional differential), and convinced WSNA nurses that this was a program worth applying to – and it worked! Eleven per cent of the St. Joe’s nurses are now in the PNAP.

When PeaceHealth management asked us to sit down and negotiate our PNAP, we had been given the impression that the St. Joe’s model would be a template. Management caught us by surprise when they not only refused to allow St. John’s clinic nurses to be eligible for the PNAP, they are not being clear on who is and isn’t eligible in Southwest, and they’ve completely rewritten the St. Joe’s PNAP to greatly diminish the Union’s nurses’ voice and ability to create a program that would work for us.

After St. John’s told clinic nurses that they would be a part, and shared several documents with clinic nurses that describe how the clinic nurses could apply to the PNAP, we are truly disappointed that they would go back on their word and only offer this program to some but not all of our WSNA nurses. We are also disappointed and deeply mistrustful of the fact that they have eliminated numerous opportunities for WSNA nurses to participate and impact the program. We – the St. John’s and Southwest WSNA nurses – are adamant that the clinic nurses must be included and that these programs have the same Union participation that St. Joe’s had.

If those factors aren’t adequately addressed, we cannot support this program and do not believe that it will be beneficial for nurses, or fair and unbiased. All of our nurses are part of the vanguard of fighting for our families. Our loved ones. Our community. WSNA remains committed to fighting for every nurse. A path to magnet status involves each one of us nurses and our unique skill set. Nurses who work in the clinics deserve exactly the same as every other nurse who works at PeaceHealth. We can't allow "leadership" to dictate who is worthy to walk a path towards upward mobility and future growth. We are all nurses and stand with each other. An injury to one is an injury to all.

For PHSW
Didi Gray, Co-Chair
Dawn Marick, Co-Chair
Erin Irwin, Grievance Officer
Duncan Camacho, Member at Large
Erin Hutchinson, Member at Large
Talitha Wilson, Member at Large
Amanda Jensen, Member at Large
Mara Kieval, WSNA Nurse Representative

For PH St. John
Kathy Arnesen, Chair
Elena Brent, Co-Chair
Mike Rogen, Member at Large
Jennifer Buckhalter, Grievance Officer
Brenda Balogh, WSNA Nurse Representative