SRH Family Birth Center Nurses are Under Attack

FBC Nurses are standing up to protect their jobs. We need ALL SRH nurses to show our FBC colleagues that we have their back! 

WHAT’S HAPPENING:

Managers in the FBC are giving regularly FTEd nurses mandatory low census on their regular shifts while allowing Travelers to keep working.

That’s right: SRH is cutting FBC nurses’ hours while Travelers are allowed to stick around after they hit their “3” LC occurrences cap.

WSNA is challenging this change. Earlier last week, we sent a cease and desist letter to Management and filed a grievance over this egregious violation of the Union contract. 

On FRIDAY (11/6/2026) Management agreed to honor WSNA’s cease and desist demand, and “pressed pause” on their LC plans for 2 weeks.

WSNA is calling on ALL SKAGIT NURSES to take action NOW by clicking the link below to make this “pause” permanent.

Please sign this petition NOW to demand that SRH STOP cutting FBC nurses’ hours!

We need to mobilize now to show SRH that nurses across the (hospital? System?) will hold Management accountable for disrespecting our strong contract and stealing work from union nurses.

Come to the Q and A with your officers tonight!

Where? Teams link below
When? 5:30 - 6pm
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/226702789802530?p=Yd4onm35TAdQqi5Uvj
Meeting ID: 226 702 789 802 530
Passcode: 9Ri9j39X
Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,889625498# United States, Seattle
(888) 313-0615,,889625498# United States (Toll-free)
Phone conference ID: 889 625 498#

Need more info? Look no further…

Low census, travelers and staffing: WSNA is taking action

FBC nurses have raised serious concerns about the way low census is currently being used, particularly when regular FTE nurses are being placed on low census while travelers continue to work.

After nurses have fought for safe and sustainable staffing for more than 18 months, Skagit Regional Health has implemented a staffing model that relies heavily on travelers while now reducing the scheduled hours of its own nurses.

WSNA shares those concerns, and we are taking action.

What's the problem?

WSNA's concern isn't simply that low census occurs. Article 11.2 establishes a process governing when and how low census is administered, including the order of low census and equitable distribution of mandatory low-census hours.

What WSNA is challenging is the use of low census affecting regular FTE nurses while travelers continue performing work in the department.

This is an economic issue for our nurses, but it also raises important questions about the long-term safety and sustainability of the staffing model.

When a shift relies heavily on travelers, where is the institutional knowledge that comes from nurses who know the department, its systems, its providers and its community? Travelers serve an important role when temporary assistance is necessary, but they should not become a substitute for recruiting and retaining an experienced permanent workforce.

Regular FTE nurses should not bear the financial impact of low census while temporary staffing remains in use without WSNA closely examining whether the contractual low-census process is being followed.

SRH cannot voluntarily enter into agency contracts that may make canceling travelers economically inconvenient and then simply transfer the economic consequences of those business decisions onto bargaining-unit nurses by depriving them of their regularly scheduled FTE hours.

That is precisely why WSNA is challenging what is happening.

These concerns are particularly significant in areas where nurses have repeatedly raised issues involving staffing, workload, breaks, turnover and the sustainability of the current staffing model. FBC staffing concerns, including recurring ADOs, chronic understaffing, turnover and burnout, have previously been raised through WSNA and Hospital Staffing Committee discussions. SRH Officer Meeting 

WSNA has taken action.

WSNA is not simply monitoring the situation.

WSNA has begun the grievance process challenging the current low-census practices and has issued a cease-and-desist regarding the disputed practice and change in how low census is being administered in FBC.

WSNA is also continuing to gather information about LC and Low Census Standby assignments and reviewing whether the contractual process and rotation are being followed. Recent WSNA communications also document the grievance activity associated with the Skagit LC dispute. 

If you are placed on LC or LCSB:

• Keep the date and shift.
• Record the number of hours lost.
• Note whether the LC was voluntary or mandatory.
• Note whether travelers were working in your department.
• Keep track of your cumulative mandatory LC hours.
• Review the department's low-census log when necessary to make sure your hours are being recorded correctly.

Your ADOs matter, especially for buddy breaking

There is another part of this that we need your help documenting.

If you are required to buddy-break another nurse, temporarily absorb another nurse's patient assignment, miss or delay your own break because of staffing, or experience other staffing conditions you believe are unsafe or inconsistent with the staffing plan, continue filing ADOs.

Please don't assume that "everyone already knows" it is happening.

We need the documentation.

A single ADO documents what happened on one shift.

Multiple ADOs over time help establish a pattern and demonstrate the real-world consequences of the staffing model.

This is particularly important if nurses are being low censused while the nurses remaining at the bedside are then expected to temporarily assume additional patient-care responsibilities so their coworkers can receive breaks.

If that is happening, document it.

WSNA has been raising staffing concerns through the Hospital Staffing Committee and other channels, but the reports submitted by bedside nurses provide critical evidence of what is actually happening shift by shift.

This isn't busywork. WSNA's and your Hospital Staffing Committee Members’ staffing communications have specifically emphasized the importance of moving ADOs through staffing committees because demonstrating staffing problems requires both the nurses' stories and the data those reports create. 

There is some good news, but also a frustrating reality

After long periods of short staffing, there is understandable frustration when nurses who worked through those conditions are now seeing their own scheduled hours cut.

The good news is that staffing has improved and patients are receiving appropriate care.

The frustrating part is how we got here and who is now being asked to absorb the cost.

Skagit has and continues to struggle to recruit and retain experienced nurses while FBC nurses have repeatedly raised concerns involving staffing, workload, burnout and retention. 

Now, as staffing begins to correct, WSNA does not believe the nurses who remained at the bedside should be the ones asked to pay the economic price through the loss of their regularly scheduled hours.

Nor should the long-term solution for our community be replacing locally experienced nurses with an unnecessarily high dependence on temporary staff.

The goal should be a stable, sustainable unit staffed by nurses who choose to build their careers at Skagit.

What we need you to do

• Protect Fully Staffed Breaks (it’s the law)

If asked to keep exactly the number of nurses per your unit’s staffing plan ask the leader directing you to explain who will give breaks. Remind them that recent DOH guidance has specifically ruled against buddy breaking. As discussed at this week’s HSC meeting a charge nurse listed in the additional staff section of your staffing plan does NOT count toward the total number of nurses on the floor working. In those cases charge nurses are there to help the department, manage workflows, be a resource etc. They are not there to temporarily cover assignments unless specifically stated in the staffing plan. 

• File an ADO when staffing conditions warrant it.

That includes buddy breaking, temporarily taking responsibility for another nurse's patients, missed or delayed breaks, or other circumstances where you believe the assignment creates a staffing or patient-safety concern.

• Document LC and LCSB.

Keep the date, shift, number of hours, whether the LC was voluntary or mandatory, and whether travelers were working.

• Check your low-census hours.

Keep your own total and compare it with the unit's LC records.

• Tell WSNA what you're seeing.

What happens at the bedside is evidence. WSNA can challenge these practices most effectively when nurses provide a clear and consistent record showing how staffing decisions are actually affecting nurses and patient care.

• If your hours have been significantly reduced, consider whether you may qualify for unemployment benefits.

Washington's Employment Security Department states that workers whose hours have been cut may qualify for unemployment benefits even though they remain employed. Eligibility and the amount of any benefit depend on the individual's circumstances, earnings and hours worked. Unemployment benefits for part-time workers and people with reduced hours.

For some workers experiencing a temporary reduction in hours, ESD may consider them partially unemployed. Among the requirements for that particular category are an expectation of returning to full-time work within four months, having been hired full time, and having hours reduced by no more than 60%. Eligibility is determined by ESD.

Workers who believe they may qualify can review the Washington Employment Security Department's unemployment information or seek assistance from the Unemployment Law Project, which provides information and legal assistance concerning Washington unemployment benefits.

WSNA will continue to push back

WSNA recognizes the very real financial impact mandatory low census can have on nurses and the frustration of watching regular nurses lose scheduled hours while temporary staff remain working.

We are challenging these practices through the contractual grievance process, through our cease-and-desist, and by continuing to document what is happening.

Please continue filing ADOs. Please continue documenting low census. And please continue telling us what you are seeing.

One incident may be dismissed as an isolated occurrence.

Ten, twenty or fifty documented incidents tell a very different story.

The strongest case isn't built from one incident. It's built from the pattern nurses document together.

WSNA does not believe Skagit nurses should lose their regularly scheduled FTE hours while travelers continue to work. We have begun the grievance process and issued a cease-and-desist challenging the disputed low-census practice. Document every LC/LCSB occurrence, including whether travelers were working, and keep filing ADOs for buddy breaking and staffing problems. One incident can be dismissed. A documented pattern is much harder to ignore.

Come to the Q and A tonight!

Where? Teams link below
When? 5:30 - 6pm
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/226702789802530?p=Yd4onm35TAdQqi5Uvj
Meeting ID: 226 702 789 802 530
Passcode: 9Ri9j39X
Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,889625498# United States, Seattle
(888) 313-0615,,889625498# United States (Toll-free)
Phone conference ID: 889 625 498#

Questions? Contact your local unit officers or WSNA Nurse Representative.