We face a fork in the road in negotiations, and we need your input on whether to keep fighting past contract expiration, or whether to wrap things up with the best deal we can. This is time sensitive. Please fill out a 30-second survey to help us decide which path to take. The survey closes December 2:

As you know, your negotiations team has been fighting for a fair contract with King County that includes new longevity steps for senior nurses for eleven months. To our great disappointment, the County has consistently failed to deliver on its previous commitment to adopt a longevity step system that reflects industry standard, rewarding nurses with a wage step each year. The County has emphasized that it cannot agree to expand longevity steps due to the significant costs that would entail and the significant financial insecurity the County faces.

You have helped us take several steps to put pressure on the County, including:

• stickering up, signing solidarity petitions
• rallying outside County headquarters
• circulating a sign-on letter to County leadership
• attending and addressing The Board of Health Public Health meetings
• a nurse delegation addressing  the King County Council
• recently filing unfair labor practice charges regarding the County’s action and inaction in negotiations
• special conversation between the office of the County Executive and bargaining team members

Unfortunately, the County hasn’t budged. It has become apparent that the only realistic way to achieve our objective of increased longevity steps is to continue escalating.

Under state law, we cannot lawfully strike until one year past contract expiration, i.e. January 1, 2027. There are numerous steps we would need to take to continue escalating before we considered a strike, but the reality is that to continue fighting for longevity steps, we would need to let the contract expire, continue escalating, and build toward a strike threat.

Letting the contract expire would mean foregoing the 3.75% wage increase the County has proposed to implement January 1, 2026, with no guarantee that we would receive the increase retroactively. It would also mean forestalling other benefits we’ve negotiated, like increases to bilingual pay.

Your team faces a tough decision: do we dig in and continue fighting for longevity steps, even if it means passing up on the 2026 general wage increase, or do we wrap up negotiations now with the best deal we can? Our decision will be guided by your input – please take this short 30-second survey to help us navigate our next steps.

We do not have a next scheduled date to negotiate, so receiving your survey responses is of utmost importance. The survey closes on December 2. Take the survey now.

Note: We will interpret a lack of a response as a vote in favor of wrapping things up. Strikes and contract campaigns require a high level of active participation. It is important for us to have a sense of how many nurses are prepared to stay engaged to help keep fighting.

In unity,

Your Bargaining Team,

Christopher Salatka, Local Unit Vice-Chair
Annie Roberts, Local Unit Secretary/Treasurer
Zerai Asgedom, Local Unit Grievance Officer

Questions? Contact your Bargaining Team Members or WSNA Nurse Rep Linda Burbank lburbank@wsna.org.