After three long, intense days of bargaining before Friday's contract extension deadline, WSNA and Seattle Children's Hospital do not have a deal. Why? Because Seattle Children's refused to offer nurses the contract you deserve.

Late Thursday night, we gave Seattle Children's a time-limited proposal that was contingent on us reaching a complete TA before the CBA extension expired on 11/21. Our proposal sought to secure the wages, premiums, and health and safety protections that met the top priorities we've been hearing from you. We compromised in many areas and came down substantially from our original asks in an effort to provide the Hospital a package we believed they could accept. If the Hospital did not accept that proposal by Friday, 11/21, the Union reserved the right to revert to its prior proposals on any or all open items.

On Friday, the Hospital gave us a “limited time supposal package” that rejected our package proposal and rejected our specific asks in critical areas. SCH finally dropped its anti-union proposals on mandatory arbitration, class action waiver, having the CBA waive nurses' breaks, eliminating union security, and eliminating dues deduction. But their offer fell far short on wages, sick leave, premiums for hard-to-fill shifts and units, and maintenance of benefits. So, we made the decision to walk away.

We knew that guaranteed back pay to Sept 1 for all nurses and other offers would come off the table. We walked away anyway. We are not going to bring you a contract we cannot recommend. We are not going to settle for a deal that leaves you behind market wages, running on empty sick leave banks, and without the premiums needed to retain experienced nurses in the positions where patients need them most. The Hospital refused to meet us where nurses need to be, and we will not accept that.

In our sessions last week, we were able to reach TAs in several important areas. The Hospital finally agreed to say, "racism has no place within Seattle Children's Hospital," which allowed us to TA the Preamble. The Hospital also worked with us on reaching a TA on Article 14, which now includes stronger, clearer committee language, including enforceable commitments to a Hospital Staffing Committee, new Division Staffing Committees, and Unit Based Staffing Committees and access to data necessary for those committees to do their work. We also secured maintaining the No Pay Protection MOU.

What the Hospital Offered – And Why It Wasn't Good Enough

Below Market Wages

Seattle Children's 11/21 “supposal” included variable increases across the wage scale, ranging from a minimum of 5.35% to a maximum of 16.81% at any given wage step across the three-year contract. It would have left our nurses below the wage scale at Washington's other pediatric hospital (Mary Bridge in Tacoma) at far too many steps of the wage scale and by far too much. It would also keep us behind OHSU Doernbecher in Portland at many steps of the scale and far behind other West Coast pediatric hospitals throughout the life of the contract.

In our time-limited proposal, we offered a wage scale that would raise the steps an average of 19.1% over 3 years (with a low of 9.52% and a high of 22.16%). Nurses would have seen an average $7.31 increase in year 1. We have heard from you loud and clear that you want us to secure market wages. Seattle Children's can do better. Seattle Children's must do better.

Insufficient Sick Leave

Seattle Children's 11/21 “supposal” included an increase in sick leave accrual to .05 per hour paid from .046163. This would equal 8 hours of sick leave for a 1.0 FTE nurse over the course of a year. That amount of additional sick leave is not enough to meaningfully provide sick leave for nurses subject to workplace violence incidents, to rectify COVID impacts on sick leave banks or bring nurses’ sick leave banks to a point where if they get sick, they can stay home with pay and protect their patients. SCH’s Friday proposal even withdrew the $1,000 in sick leave via a ratification bonus that one of its prior offers had contained.

37% of the bargaining unit has less than 12 hours of sick leave left. Over half of you have less than 24 hours remaining. For PBMU, the stats are even worse: 67% have less than 12 hours of sick leave and 81% have less than 24 hours. Eight hours for a 1.0 FTE isn’t enough to make a difference. Our time-limited proposal had an accrual rate of .056, which would provide 12.5 hours more per year for a 1.0 FTE nurse than the Hospital offered, and 20.5 more per year than current contract language. This would allow a 0.9 nurse to accumulate a full shift in a 6-week period rather than an 8 week period. Had the Hospital accepted our proposed accrual rate, we would have resolved all our other sick leave proposals.

Workplace violence incidents are pervasive in the Hospital. Nurses should not have to skip a vacation or take unpaid time off when they are victims of WPV. We will keep fighting for improved sick leave so you can take time off when you are sick or injured. This keeps our vulnerable patients safe without subjecting our nurses to loss of pay or discipline for attendance violations.

Small Increases or No Premiums for Hard to Fill Shifts and Units

We have repeatedly explained the health and safety impacts on nurses and patients when not retaining experienced nurses on nights and in safety care units. The Hospital has continued to tell us it does not see a business need to raise premiums in these areas – the Hospital does not see a problem with recruitment and retention on nights. (Do you disagree? If you have personal stories of the health and safety impacts to nurses and patients because of a lack of experienced nurses on nights, please share those stories with us! Same thing for PBMU, Behavioral Support Team and the ED – if turnover in those areas has impacted nurse and patient safety, please reach out with stories about that.)

In our time-limited proposal, we offered SCH a set of premiums we thought they could accept that would also make a meaningful difference recruiting and retaining experienced nurses in these areas. This is not just an economic issue – this is about having trained, experienced nurses in hard-to-fill positions and units to protect our patients. Here is how our last offers compared on premiums:

No Maintenance of Benefits

The Hospital again rejected maintenance of benefits. We requested that nurses be able to decide how much sick leave and annual leave to draw down while they are on Paid Family and Medical Leave and for the rest of their Birth of a Child, Health, and Welcoming Leaves so that they can space out pay for accrued leaves to allow them to maintain their health benefits throughout those leaves (not just while on PFML, as will be required by the State after Jan. 1).

What Happens Next – We Move Forward With Strength

We will keep bargaining to reach an agreement that meets your needs. Both the Hospital and the Union may revert to prior proposals on those issues that were contingent on reaching a deal by Friday. For our part, we are no longer bound by the compromises we made in our time-limited proposal. We can and will strive for more in areas of sick leave, wage scale, premiums, and break relief.

The Hospital may take off the table things they offered contingent on reaching a deal by Friday, including the .05 sick leave accrual, back pay to Sept 1 for all nurses, pay for the bargaining team for the sessions since Sept 1, and wages. It does not mean we will not get these things, but we may have to bargain for them again now that the extension agreement has expired. We have repeatedly rejected SCH's mandatory arbitration, class action waiver, and unlawful CBA-waiver-of-meal-breaks proposals. Whether they will try to bring those back remains to be seen.

Our strength comes from all of YOU. If you have not filled out the strike assessment, do it now. This is how we show the Hospital we are serious.

The CBA is now expired. Most terms and conditions of employment will continue to be in effect as the "status quo." Those things that relate to wages, hours, or other terms of employment must remain in effect as the "status quo." After the CBA expires, SCH cannot unilaterally reduce nurses' wages, change their schedules, or ignore seniority rules without bargaining with the Union. If SCH changes any aspect of your terms and conditions of employment, contact your Nurse Representative immediately to tell them what happened.

Other things to know:

Grievance and arbitration clause. The grievance and arbitration article has expired. Grievances that are still pending that were filed before the CBA expired can still go through the grievance process, including arbitration if the Union advances them to arbitration. If you think the CBA is violated after 11/21, contact your Nurse Representative to discuss what to do.

No-strike clause. This has expired. That means the CBA's restrictions on picketing and striking are gone. Federal labor law requires that healthcare unions send a notice ten days in advance of any picket or strike to the employer and to a federal agency so that the employer can make contingency plans. So, the nurses cannot picket or strike unless WSNA has sent that notice, even after the CBA expires.

WSNA is currently taking strike assessments. Before there could be any strike there would have to be a strike vote and the 10-day notice, among other things. We are prepared to take the steps necessary to win the contract you deserve. Look out for further updates from the Union.

Thank you for all the support that we have received throughout the bargaining process, and especially last week. We are energized by you and determined to reach an agreement with the Hospital that we are confident you will ratify. We have made the right decision to let this contract expire. Now we move forward together, with clarity about what we need and the collective power to win it.

In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Team
Annika Hoogestraat, Kara Yates, Lindsey Kirsch, Sam Forte, Katie Podobnik, Therese Hill, Kelsey Gellner, AJ Nagal, Emma Gordon, Sarah Munro, Cody Ian, Lauren Lustyk, Regan Halom, Jon McAferty and Anne Marie Fountain

WSNA Nurse Rep Linda Burbank at lburbank@wsna.org