News updates for the Public Health Seattle King County staff nurses

• Extensions! Local unit officer elections: nominations have been extended until December 1, 2026.
• February 4, 2027 Lobby Day WSNA Lobby Day - WSNA Register early! Registration ends December 31, 2026

Wage increases and retro pay: 

Your 3.75% wage increase with retro pay should now show on your pay statement. Per the compensation and retro pay agreement, this wage increase is paid back to January 1, 2026, for any nurse still employed as of September 27, 2026. See details for currently employed nurses and those who have terminated employment here. It is expected that retro pay will occur in this pay period or as soon as administratively possible. We have reminded the County of these terms numerous times to ensure there are continued delays and will move forward with enforcement if the retro payments do not occur in this pay period and have insisted on a definitive date from the employer.

Contract issues and pending grievances:

Wage increases retro payment: We met with the office of labor relations this week and understand that payroll is calculating the retro payments manually and for some weeks, perhaps. Our best estimate that is not confirmed is for the payment to issued to the nurses in early December. We have notified the County of our intent to grieve if a definitive date and payment is not confirmed and verified. Yes,it is being done manually, therefore it takes several weeks. Apparently this is occurring right now. Please watch your pay statements!

JHS: As promised, we raised the chronic short staffing in JHS at the Level One quarterly and had a follow up with the County to discuss in more detail. Thank you to the JHS nurses who have been clear and specific about where posts are regularly short and the impacts upon patient care and missed or delayed breaks and overtime. We anticipate learning more as this process moves forward. This has been a prolonged process, but we remain steadfast. Stay tuned and keep submitting ADOs every shift you are short-staffed! 

CCFJC: The nurses working in Juvenile Detention have put in hard work to unify around a pilot for 12-hour shifts. We provided a specific proposal to DAJD and anticipate a response. Thank you to every CCFJC nurse who has participated in the conversations, labor management meetings, union calls, 100% solidarity in their petition and the development of this proposal. We meet with DAJD in December to discuss next steps. 

Continuing Education hours article 23: 

The County has continued to misapply an internal policy, despite a great deal of time devoted to asserting the clarity of this language. Proration of CE hours is only applicable to staff nurses during their first year of employment. We have met with the County and working to resolve this for the affected nurses. If this does not bear the remedy we are seeking for this misapplication, we reserve the right to grieve it formally per article 30 in your WSNA contract.

Local unit officer elections: Nominations for your local unit officers for 2027-2029 have been extended through Dec 1, 2026.  Go here to read details and submit your nomination of a WSNA member in good standing, including yourself if you want to learn and grow as a local unit leader! 2026-2029 WSNA Officer Nomination Form-Public Health Seattle King County Staff Nurses – Fill out form Please note this correction, the term of office is January 2027 through December 31, 2029, per your local unit rules. 

Questions/Concerns? Contact a local unit officer, steward, or site rep or
WSNA Nurse Representative Tara Barnes [email protected]

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Link membership app: Membership application - WSNA

Contract, Updates and your WSNA Union Leadership information can be found here:  

https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-king-county-health-dept-staff