We now have a “hold” date of September 8, 2026, for the hearing on your WSNA contract by the King County Council!

Please note, as nurses have no doubt been alarmed by the long delay, that the County communicated with us that the Council was sent the contract for review on July 14 (about 2 months after the initial tentative agreement was reached in May!). Yes, July 14! Though your union contract goes through this process each time there is a new contract, this is a delay with consequences.

Every nurse relies upon the implementation of the new terms and provisions for their shared benefit. Further, the retroactive general wage increase of 3.75% back to January 1 has also been delayed as a result of the prolonged transmittal process.

We have continuously communicated with the County to keep this transmittal process on track and unfortunately it has still been an unreasonable time period until nurses can expect the new contract to complete the transmittal process and become effective. You may recall that the WSNA members agreement was ratified by vote on June 4, 2026. Respectfully, WSNA has processed all action pieces in an efficient timely manner. The County has not. It is absolutely clear that the nurses are negatively impacted by this delay and deserve better.

If the “hold” date for the King County council on September 8 occurs as the County indicates it will, the contract is voted for passage and sent to Executive Zahilay for signature. 10 days later, it becomes ordinance that will be implemented. We will provide an update after the September 8 hearing to the nurses so that all are informed on the progress of the contract as well as the effective date, once known. Then, we will publish the new contract to your your WSNA webpage.  We received a communication just before 8 am this morning reaffirming the September 8 hearing date with the King County Council.

Questions about this email? Contact a local unit officer or Nurse Representative Tara Barnes tbarnes@wsna.org

Link to your WSNA local unit webpage with officer contact links, contract, and communications https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-king-county-health-dept-staff

Past updates archive https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-king-county-health-dept-staff/past-updates

Here is the link to the TA summary of the new contract for your reference in the interim, which is available on your webpage under contract related documents at https://cdn.wsna.org/assets/local-unit-assets/seattle-king-county-health-dept-staff/2026-05-26_TA-Summary.pdf.