Our bargaining team met with management for our eighth day of contract negotiations. While we were incredibly disappointed with management’s responses to our economics on day seven (read here), our team rolled up their sleeves and passed multiple articles back to management. We won’t be deterred by underwhelming wage proposals or weak excuses for why our working conditions cannot be improved. Our nurses deserve a fair contract and with the help of all of our nurses, we will get there.

We passed the following articles to management and hope to receive responses at our next session on Thursday February 5, 2026:

• Across the board raises and premiums in Article 7 including
  • Charge nurse premium
  • Night shift differential, including a new proposal for a longevity night shift differential, to attract and attain more experienced nurses on night shift.
  • Certification premium
  • Education premium
  • Standby premium
  • Inter-unit floating (NEW)- when nurses are floating off their home unit
  • Preceptor premium for capstone and new hires
  • Preceptor premium for daily students (NEW)
• Reiterated removal of all ghost steps in our wage scale and adding 5 steps to 35
• Reiterated our incentive structure for 24/7 call departments to receive premium pay for vacant call shifts as opposed to management being able to unilaterally assign based on seniority
• Reiterated NEW work on day off premium that permits part-time nurses to receive time and a half for short notice shifts less than 24 hours’ notice
• Break nurse relief language- modified to include a longer time for the Employer to move away from the break buddy system. Our team shared with management that we feel the break buddy system is not in compliance with the staffing plan and that it can lead to unsafe patient assignments. We also know that MULTIPLE hospitals in Washington State are actively hiring break relief nurses including:
  • Skagit Hospital- 5 FTEs for break nurses
  • Virginia Mason- 15 FTEs for break nurses
  • MultiCare Good Samaritan & Tacoma General
• Appendix A- our union rejected any changes to our supplemental agreements
• Appendix B- reiterated our proposals that clinical documentation specialists receive the same benefits in our CBA related to PTO, EIT, and leaves of absence
• Rejected innovative schedule language- we are resisting management’s attempt to circumvent the scheduling protections that we have won in Article 9
• Rejected increasing mandatory low census hours for nurses
• Rejected a proposal from management that would overhaul our layoff language, which has protected nurses for decades, while trying to compromise on smaller areas where we can like allowing affected nurses to transition to positions based on their FTE rather than based on equivalent hours
• Proposed a package that would give the Employer 3 more days to provide responses to grievances and would reduce the time discipline is in a nurse’s personnel file from 24 months to 18 months
  • Please note- package proposals generally have to be accepted in their entirety as presented

What are we waiting for?

We continue to wait for information to be provided by management regarding the health insurance changes made. This information was requested from our legal team, and we are hopeful the Employer will produce that so we can move forward discussions on health insurance. We know this is a huge issue for our bargaining unit. We give top quality care to our patients, and we deserve top quality health insurance ourselves.

What can I do to help?

Be an observer- sign up today to observe our contract negotiations. Half day and full day sign up available. Next sessions include February 5, February 10, February 20, and February 24. This is our bargaining team’s most pressing ask- we are over 2,000 strong at Sacred Heart and we want our bargaining room to be filled with HUNDREDS of nurse observers. We do not have a limit on who can attend. Read below from Reba Carlson, a float pool nurse who has observed multiple sessions with our team!

How else can I help?

1. Attend our after bargaining union meetings- Our team following each bargaining session will hold a virtual meeting for nurses to get real-time updates from that day. Meetings held at 6pm and 8pm on bargaining dates.
2. Become a Steward- Are you comfortable with your contract? Are you someone with whom your colleagues ask questions to about our union or contract? Step up your game and help us strengthen our Union at Sacred Heart. One hour training provided on an individual basis- sign up today.
3. Provide a meal- we have had nursing units turn out to provide breakfast or lunch for our bargaining team. It’s a kind gesture and a way to say thank you to our team.

A huge THANK YOU to the continued support from our nurses and community. The ER nurses showed up to observe our bargaining and support our team. The Interventional Radiology (IR) nurses provided our team with lunch and caffeine to get through our day! Thank you for showing up for us.

Questions? Contact a member of our bargaining team, a local union officer here, or email our WSNA Nurse Rep Alle Machorro amachorro@wsna.org