When our negotiating team met with Providence management on Friday, we stood firm in our resolve not to accept the Providence plan to slash PTO, give up EIT and accept an unacceptable short-term disability plan.

Guess what happened at Kadlec late Monday night? Management blinked. And we saw the benefits of the collective power of our Providence union coalition campaign in action.

Nurses at Kadlec, who no longer earn EIB and moved to a short-term disability plan in their last contract, stood firm and refused to accept management’s demands to slash PTO and raid their earned EIB.

Congratulations to our Kadlec team in reaching a tentative agreement that preserves the current PTO accrual and cap for all current WSNA nurses. More details on the Kadlec agreement to come.

Our collective unity and willingness as a coalition to strike if necessary forced Providence to cave on key issues that will help at all open bargaining tables, including at Sacred Heart.

The solidarity demonstrated by Sacred Heart and Kadlec nurses together with all Providence workers across the state forced Providence off their PTO proposal and will set an important precedent for preserving current PTO accruals and caps. This shatters Providence’s claim that they will slash PTO.

At Sacred Heart, we will continue to build strike committees and our negotiation team is working to schedule another mediation.

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Jaclyn Perkins, BSN, RN at 800-231-8482, ext. 3118 or jperkins@wsna.org.