Day #2 of negotiations is complete. On the first day of negotiations, we presented our initial comprehensive proposal to management. When presenting our proposals, we stressed to management that we would not tolerate being treated as we were during the last round of negotiations and that management damaged our relationship by unnecessarily picking a fight with its nurses.

Management started Day 2 of negotiations by stating that they heard our concerns and would approach things differently this time and put their best foot forward to reach an agreement. They stated that they would not be seeking to replace the current PTO and EIT system with a short-term disability plan even though they would have liked to see it in place. You will recall that this was one of the issues that nearly led us to a strike three years ago. They also stated that they wanted to reach a contract that recruits and retains nurses. We stressed to management they cannot continue to rely on Band-Aid approaches to safe staffing and recruitment and retention.

Management made the following economic proposal to us:

After ratification, move the base step on the wage scale to a rate of $36/hr and shifting remaining steps up the scale upward a bit and instituting wage increases for the “ghost steps” 12, 14 and 16 (which currently have no corresponding wage increase). Then, in March 2023, add 2.5% the wage scale. The net effect of these changes (as of March 2023) would be an increase of 7.3% for most nurses with some receiving nearly 9% (depending on step) over the current wage scale.

3% the second full pay period following Jan 1, 2024
2.5% the second full pay period following Jan 1, 2025

There is still much daylight between our initial proposal and Management’s, and we will work hard to secure wage increases that value the contributions of nurses and fix the current recruitment and retentions issues.

During the day, we reached tentative agreements on a few issues, such as reducing the amount of notice a nurse must give for EIT from three hours to two hours and eliminating the provision that states that failure to provide such notice will result in loss of pay for that day. We also reached agreement as to how nurses on the staffing committee will be paid for staffing committee meetings.

We also spent time discussing floating and clinical group configurations and adding an additional holiday.

We have much work ahead us and have impressed upon Management to engage us in a meaningful and transparent manner.

Our next day of bargaining is Nov. 17.

YOUR TASK: Continue to wear your WSNA button and WEAR your BLUE on Tuesday! Don’t have a button? We can help. Stop by the SHMC cafeteria on Nov 17th 0730 – 1030, and 1600 - 1900 to get yours, and grab some from your unit.

Thank you, CARA unit, for feeding us! It was a nice surprise, and we appreciate you.