We had our twelfth session with administration in mid-May and have moved our negotiations online because they were unable to provide us with another session date until early July! We want to wrap this contract up as soon as possible so we can get everyone the retro-pay and raise that they have been patiently waiting for, but we also want to balance doing our due diligence to fight hard for the best contract we can get for our members.

The main points of contention that we are still working on are the proposed wage increases to bring us up to market with other health districts in comparable cost-of-living areas and the anti-discrimination clause, which the employer proposed getting rid of entirely. We want to continue to have the ability to resolve issues with discrimination within the union when possible if it's appropriate. While the employer argues that there are other venues available to deal with discrimination in the workplace, we feel it is important to be able to address issues that arise using tools available to the union. We are discussing a new top step for nurses who have dedicated a large part of their career to the community in the County, as well as deleting the current lowest step to raise the new-hire wage to better compete with other public health jobs. We have also come to an agreement on an increase for on-call wages. Much progress has been made on a full-contract overhaul, and we are in the home stretch. We will keep you posted on any new developments and hope to come to a vote soon.

Your bargaining team, 
Sue Starr and Susan Babcock

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your bargaining team or your WSNA nurse rep, Grace Chesterman (gchesterman@wsna.org).