In this update you’ll find the following information

• Update boards
• Meet your bargaining team
• Where to find bargaining information
• What’s up with t-shirts?
• Providence Kadlec bargaining update

Do you recognize this board?

We recently came through and updated a few boards! Please look below and see if one of these belongs to your unit. Nurses can find the large board on the main floor behind the gift shop.

Meet your bargaining team

Each newsletter, we highlight nurses who make up our contract bargaining team. Last week we featured Tom Barnett (CARA), Rian Williams (CDI/ soon to be NICU), and Burt Carlson (ER). See more team members below!

Tom Barnett, CARA

I have worked at SHMC since Dec 2013, starting on 6S and eventually spending time in CICU, PICU and now Cath/EP Lab. I have served on the Hospital Staffing Committee since 2020. I am excited to represent our bargaining unit by joining the negotiations team! When I am not working, I am spending time with my wife and two young kids. If “free time” were a real thing I’d use it to mountain bike or ski.

Rian Williams- WSNA Co Chair, CDI/NICU

 I've been a nurse for 21 years almost 19 in NICU and a year in CDI. I've been a union officer in some capacity for 5 or 6 years now. I originally got involved in our campaign against losing our sick time.

I served in the Army national guard for 8 years as a Russian linguist and interrogator. I love movies, reading, traveling, and my 3 children. My favorite place I've ever been, Scotland.

My hope for bargaining is to fight off takeaway, especially our retirement and healthcare benefits. I hope we can secure more PTO and meaningful wage increases.

Burt Carlson- Grievance Officer, ER

I am proud to be a member of our union and know our community and workforce are healthier and stronger when we stand up for our interests together. Collective bargaining reduces wage gaps and helps prevent discrimination. I value community, connect with our food, fresh water, clean air and equal human rights for EVERY person.

Where do I find bargaining updates?

Our union is aware that management from Sacred Heart has created their own LIVE website to provide negotiation updates. We want to remind all of our nurses that our union, WSNA, is the exclusive bargaining representative of our nurses at Sacred Heart. Our union represents all our interests related to wages, hours, and working conditions.

Nurses should ALWAYS check their personal email for direct, immediate post-bargaining updates and check our union website for the most current information. We caution nurses on taking information from management. Please update your membership information to ensure you receive our updates.

Our team will be bargaining with management on the following days-

November 20
November 25
December 3
December 16
December 22
December 30

What’s up with T-shirts?

We are aware Providence recently updated their dress code policy in September. Our union formally notified the Employer that we disagree with the changes as they were not bargained with us. We want to remind our nurses that if workers can wear sports jerseys, school insignias, or other items that violate the dress code policy, nurses can wear their union shirts. If you wear our union shirt and are asked to take it off, please contact our union immediately. This could be a violation of labor law.

Our union will be in the cafeteria for cafeteria time on Tuesday November 18 from 4-8 pm! Come talk to us about our contract and grab your union shirt and some negotiation education.

What’s Happening at Providence Kadlec? 

Our WSNA brothers and sisters are 8 sessions into their contract bargaining with Providence. Here is their latest update-

We had 17 nurses from 9 different units came to our last negotiation session to observe and speak directly about the urgent need for a dedicated Break RN process.

These nurses shared powerful, firsthand experiences about the inability to take safe, uninterrupted breaks under the current system and the impact this has not only on nurses’ well-being but also on patient safety and continuity of care.

Our proposal for a Break RN position is simple: every nurse deserves a real break, covered by qualified relief staff, so that patient care is never compromised and nurses can take the rest time that the law requires, and the profession demands.

While management did not present a counterproposal and stated they “aren’t ready to go there,” we believe the voices of frontline nurses were heard.

Stay tuned for more updates on how our union siblings are doing at their contract tables!

Questions? Contact your WSNA Nurse Representative Alle Machorro at amachorro@wsna.org