Steady Pace, Moving Forward

On February 11, your WSNA bargaining team met with management for Day 6 of negotiations. This day held meaningful discussion on wages, safety in the methadone clinic, bilingual pay, preceptor expectations, and drug diversion policy. While no tentative agreements were reached, we believe there was notable movement particularly on compensation. To break it down further for our valuable nurses, we have provided a detailed list below.

Wages

After extensive discussion about inequities between classifications (PHN2’s vs CN1, and PHN3s vs CN2s) management presented a salary counterproposal that includes additional adjustments to align these roles more fairly.  While this proposal does not fully close the gap, it represents a meaningful move and validates concerns raised repeatedly by nurses at the table. In terms of wage adjustments for the whole WSNA bargaining unit, management did agree to move to a fixed percentage for all three years of the contract vs relying on a Consumer Price Index approach for some of the years. We appreciated this movement from management and will continue discussions on wages in hopes of bringing us closer together.

Safety and Workplace Violence (Methadone Clinic)

Safety remained a major focus of the day. Nurses shared ongoing concerns about:

• Limited exits in the dosing room
• Glass barriers that do not provide true protection
• Ventilation and air quality
• Lack of clear, unit-specific active-shooter and workplace violence training

Management discussed possible changes, including ventilation improvements, room configuration adjustments, and policy updates. However, no concrete solutions were finalized. Your bargaining team made clear that the current setup does not adequately protect nurses. These conversations will continue.

Drug Diversion Policy

Management indicated they are willing to remove random drug testing from the currently proposed policy. This is a significant shift and addresses concerns raised by WSNA.

Bargaining is ongoing, and while good progress is being made, several key issues remain unresolved.

Next dates to bargain have been set for February 25, March 9, March 27.  Stay tuned!

Questions? Comments? Contact one of your WSNA officers or your nurse rep, Jaclyn Smedley BSN, RN at jsmedley@wsna.org