On Tuesday, the bargaining team met with management for a productive session, with counterproposals from both WSNA and the employer covering articles on charge nurses, floating, and low-census clinical grouping. We also reached Tentative Agreements (TAs) and had significant discussions regarding Break Nurses and a new benefits proposal.

Employer counter proposal on wages

We appreciated movement from the employer on wages. Although we do not believe we are at a place that will keep Southwest competitive in the market, we do believe we are making progress. The employer did not include moving our Home and Community Nurses back into the pay grades they deserve. This was disappointing. We will continue to fight for fair wages for all of our WSNA Nurses.

Break Nurse Implementation

Both the WSNA team and management agree that break nurses will be vital to ensure nurses get relief for their rest and meal breaks. The work being done at this point is around how they will be implemented from unit to unit. We continued to have productive discussions and both teams' proposals show real progress happening at the table. Here's where things stood at the end of yesterday's session: the employer has come up with different break models that could be used in different clinical areas depending on what works best in each unit. What we need to figure out now is the process for selecting each unit's model and making changes where needed. We are advocating for a system where nurses on the unit get an opportunity to weigh in on their unit's model—whether through Unit Based Councils (UBCs), ad-hoc committees, staff meetings, or written feedback —for the first two pay periods following ratification, and meet quarterly to troubleshoot in units where the model isn't getting nurses adequate relief during breaks.

New Proposal: PTO, EIB, and Short-Term Disability

Management presented a significant “package” proposal regarding time off and disability benefits. The bargaining team is currently analyzing how this proposal interacts with Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) to ensure it truly benefits our members, and we'll have more updates soon. In the meantime: we know this matters a lot to nurses, and we do not intend to agree to any takeaways on this front. Stay tuned for more information after next week's session.

Show management all eyes are on this negotiation: sign the petition!

We need everyone to sign a petition so management sees just how many people are closely following our contract. Find a local unit officer, bargaining team member, or action team member today to sign a petition and find out how you can help track down coworkers who haven't signed yet.

Upcoming Events

• Join us TODAY 1/28/2026 at 6:30pm for our weekly virtual local unit meeting “Southwest Bargaining Beat” - They’re the place you’ll get updates, discuss the issues, and have bargaining team members available to answer your questions. We will also be going over ADO forms, and how to fill them out. Meeting link
• Now we need your help to build momentum in signing our petition to demand a good contract. Reach out to your bargaining team members, officers, or unit reps on your floor for more information.
• Join us for our eighth session next Tuesday, February 3rd. We will be in HEC classrooms 3/4. Please RSVP  — it helps us plan for how many observers we will have. (If you have a last-minute opportunity to join us, please do.)

RSVP to join us!

If you are working and cannot join us, make sure to at least wear a WSNA sticker to support the team and, ideally, wear your WSNA blue T-shirt. We will have shirts at bargaining if you’d like to pick one up.

Follow us on Instagram at phsw_nurses

In solidarity,

WSNA PeaceHealth Southwest Bargaining Team:
Alyssa Boswell, Home Hospice
Dawn Marick, MedSurg
Duncan Camacho, ICU
Dustin Weddle, ED
Jacob Clark, CVICU
Maria Hosseini, Cathlab
Sam Golden, IMCU
Sarah Albright, Peri-Op
Toutu Rekucki, MedSurg

Questions? Contact your WSNA Nurse Representative, Bret Percival, at bpercival@wsna.org.