On January 11, 2023, we had our 7th bargaining session. WSNA received many new proposals from the County that it believes will improve efficiencies in their operations.

Temporary and Permanent changes in location and schedule

The County is proposing language that would expand its ability to implement both temporary and permanent changes to the schedule and location of work, primarily in CHS. After WSNA inquired why this proposal was needed in light of existing contract language the County said it would go back and review its proposal, and clarify what approach they are taking on this.

Comp Time and Continued Education

The County has proposed to limit the amount of comp time that a nurse can have in a year. The current comp time provision, according to the County, is especially costly because instead of just paying overtime the County has to backfill the position of the nurse who takes comp time off. Large comp time balances also constitute a liability for the County and therefore they are trying to limit their size.

The County withdrew its proposal to change the language around progressive discipline.

Shared Staffing Community Health Services

Half of our day was spent discussing a change to the pilot shared staffing agreement from 2018, with Protec17. The County wants to add programs such as Primary Care and Family Planning to this agreement and update the Sister Sites. We have asked for the data around this Pilot that was done right before COVID along with some other information, which we are awaiting prior to having any further discussions around this. WSNA is working on a counter-proposal to be more efficient than the County proposed.

Unfortunately, we did not receive an economic proposal back from the County even though we gave that to them 2 sessions ago on November 28, 2022. We did present the urgency of responding and the need to quicken the pace of negotiations to be able to retain and recruit nurses, which is a mutual goal.

Our next day at the table will be January 25.

Your bargaining team,

Tyler Breier, Chair, Child Care Program
Tami Nesler, Grievance officer, MRJC
Carolyn Clark, Grievance officer, KCCF
Kaila Tang, PHN with NFP
Elena Schensted, PHN with First Steps

For questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with WSNA Nurse Representative Michelle Moore at MMoore@wsna.org or reach out to your local unit officers.