Thank you for your messages and for clearly expressing the concerns being felt by members of this bargaining unit. We appreciate your engagement, your advocacy, and the seriousness with which nurses are approaching this moment. Your position is understood, respected, and valued.

As we shared in our January 2 “Important Bargaining Check-In,” WSNA and the bargaining team have continued to escalate pressure on the employer while preparing for all possible outcomes—including a strike. Hundreds of nurses participated in Sip n Chats to receive updates, ask questions, and share perspectives, and strike preparation has continued in parallel with negotiations through workgroup formation, education on strike resources, and monitoring for and filing potential Unfair Labor Practices.

Since your incredible strike authorization vote, we have seen movement by Seattle Children’s at the bargaining table. This movement was on some of our top priorities and provided long-fought-for gains that the Employer had rejected until now, including:

• Paid time off for victims of workplace violence
• Additional pay for experienced nurses working nights
• Improvements for per diem nurses who take an FTE
• Control for nurses over their own schedules
• The choice to convert backpay into a meaningful amount of sick leave upon ratification
• Annual wage increases months earlier than previously proposed

The work is not done on some of these issues. We are still fighting to make sure the workplace violence leave applies to injuries affecting mental health conditions including sexual assaults. We are still fighting for more expansive night shift pay. Know that the wins we saw on December 22-23 are a direct result of the power you brought us.

It is important to be transparent about the strategic considerations before us. The employer has threatened that if a 10-day strike notice is issued at this point, they will:

• Reintroduce mandatory arbitration language related to rest breaks,
• Remove retroactive pay back to September 1st from the proposal and
• May withdraw other economic and non-economic proposals.

These changes would significantly weaken the agreement and undo gains that have been achieved through sustained pressure and bargaining. With these risks in mind, the bargaining team and WSNA leadership are working diligently to preserve progress, continue advancing priorities, and secure the strongest possible contract.

Our goal remains unchanged: to win a contract that delivers meaningful gains, protects nurse and patient health and safety, and reflects the power of this bargaining unit—one we can confidently recommend for a YES vote on ratification.

The strike authorization remains a critical source of leverage, and it has already played a key role in moving the employer. At the same time, our responsibility is to deploy that leverage strategically, at the moment it will produce the greatest benefit and avoid unnecessary setbacks.

As outlined in the January 2 communication, we continue to:

• Coordinate with the Labor Executive Council (LEC) – this meeting will take place next week,
• Prepare strike infrastructure through workgroups,
• Provide ongoing strike education and resources,
• Monitor for and file new Unfair Labor Practices,
• Engage expert analysis on costing and employer data, and
• Maintain bargaining momentum with upcoming scheduled sessions.

We recognize that uncertainty is difficult, particularly when members are planning around work, finances, and family obligations. Your feedback underscores the importance of continued transparency, and we are committed to providing clearer and more consistent updates as decisions are finalized regarding next steps, including opportunities for member voting.

Thank you again for your honesty, your engagement, and your commitment to this union. We value that partnership and remain fully committed to standing with this bargaining unit in both preparation and action.

 New ULP Filed

• WSNA filed an unfair labor practice charge this morning against Seattle Children’s Hospital, the latest in many charges we have filed in the recent weeks.
• On December 23, 2025, the Hospital’s Executive Leadership Team sent an email to every nurse in the bargaining unit and told them that if WSNA issues a strike notice, the Hospital will take its offer off the table, and specifically that nurses will not receive retro pay.
• SCH delivered a similar message at the bargaining table on 12/23, saying a strike notice changes not just the Hospital’s position economically but other compromises the Hospital has made so far to get a deal.
• These threats to withdraw retro pay and other proposals that the Hospital knows are necessary to get a contract solely because WSNA issues a strike notice interferes with nurses’ ability to engage in protected, concerted activity, and interferes with our ability to reach a fair contract.
• Nurses’ right to strike is federally protected activity. Threatening to retaliate against nurses by taking away retro pay and other beneficial proposals just because a strike notice issues is potentially unlawful and certainly frustrates the collective bargaining process.
• We will not be intimidated by the Hospital. Our right to strike is protected and powerful—and the Hospital knows it. We will not back down in our fight for a fair contract.

We recognize that the recent pace of communication may have felt like delay, and we want to be transparent about why.

The bargaining team is not pausing or slowing down. We are moving on multiple fronts and intentionally timing our engagement with the LEC to ensure that it is substantive, not symbolic. 

We have been working to get necessary information from the employer and did so with two meetings with the mediator this week that brought both transparency and clarity. We are scheduled for a mediation session on 1/13 set up like we have done in multiple prior contract negotiations – to get a small group from both sides together off the record to try to reach a full TA without a strike.

Our responsibility to the nurses we represent is to act with both urgency and precision. Just as in chess, where a move made without full visibility of the board can weaken your position, or in football, where a play is not called until the formation is known, we must make each strategic decision based on the most current information to ensure that each step we take strengthens our leverage rather than dissipates it.

This approach is rooted in transparency and strategy, not delay. Our goal is to engage in a way that advances nurses’ priorities with clarity, credibility, and the strongest possible position to obtain a fair contract. At the same time, we must ensure that the Employer does not hear what we are going to do before we do it. Please know WSNA and your bargaining team are working tirelessly to get you the strongest possible contract.

Strike Workgroup Updates:

Strike workgroups are already working hard towards identifying and prioritizing the needs of membership moving into a potential strike.

Initial Strike workgroups have been established but if you would still like to help and missed the sign-up, please reach out to SCHstrike@wsna.org

Workgroup meeting times subject to change depending on the needs and schedules of each group

• Strike Line Logistics Workgroup: Every Wednesday from 7:30PM-8:30PM
• Helps determine sites for picketing and picket shift/schedule
• Organizes picket schedules to ensure sufficient picketers for each designated picket time
• Ensures that picketers are informed and compliant with ground rules and appropriate picket line behavior
• Oversees actual picketing activities such as picket signs and chants
• Tracks and records picket line participation
• Provides food, beverages, and other essentials during picket
• Community Outreach, Engagement, and Communication Workgroup: Every Friday from 4PM-5PM
• Monitors and tracks member questions, concerns, and rumors
• Responds to questions concerns and rumors with agreed-upon messaging
• Serve as media spokespersons as assigned in addition to bargaining team members
• Coordinate outreach to other unions, faith leaders, physicians, businesses, and community for support of a strike
• Fundraising & Finance Workgroup: Every Thursday from 7:30PM-8:30PM
• Develop a budget to strike/picket
• Manage and track expenses
• Provide personal finance tips and preparedness info to nurses
• Provide loan info to nurses
• Identifies employment opportunities and compile list
• Provide list of employment opportunities to striking nurses
• Strike Headquarters Workgroup: Every Thursday from 8:30PM-9:30PM
• Provides input on HQ location
• Ensure adequate staffing and supplies at HQ
• Provide needed equipment, supplies, and materials to support a picket
• Serve as focal point for strike info for nurses and public
• Works with Logistics team to transport materials and nurses to and from strike line

Please join the virtual WSNA Weekly Bargaining Update Meeting on January 13 at 6 pm for updates. A Local Unit In-person meeting will take place the following week.

In solidarity,
WSNA Leadership

Do not hesitate to contact any of the officers if you have questions. Also, utilizing our Instagram @sch_wsna offers quick updates and opportunities for DMs.