Nurses at St. Joe’s work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and around-the-clock care requires around-the-clock union representation. We have a lot happening over the next several weeks. Keep reading for updates on upcoming events, staffing advocacy, and other important issues affecting nurses at St. Joe’s.

Night Shift Rounding on August 18

Local unit officers and Nurse Representative Jared will be rounding the units beginning at 2300 on Tuesday, August 18.

We will visit break rooms, bring snacks and union swag, and be available to answer questions or hear about concerns on your unit. If you are working, make sure to stop by and say hello!

PeaceHealth “Volunteer Time”

We recently learned that PeaceHealth planned to staff this year’s flu clinic with employees working as unpaid volunteers.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees of nonprofit organizations generally cannot volunteer without pay to perform the same type of work they are employed to perform. We raised this concern with PeaceHealth, and management has agreed not to move forward with unpaid employee volunteers for the flu clinic.

This situation has also raised questions about other “volunteer” opportunities PeaceHealth may have offered that should have been paid work.

If you have volunteered for a PeaceHealth event or program, we want to hear from you. Please email Nurse Representative Jared at JRichardson@WSNA.org and describe when you volunteered, what work you performed, and whether you were paid.

Hospital Staffing Committee Updates

The Hospital Staffing Committee met for its monthly meeting on August 5.

We continue to demand the unit-level data necessary for the committee to fulfill its legal responsibility to develop, review, and oversee hospital staffing plans. PeaceHealth has repeatedly refused to provide this information and instead presents only hospital-wide aggregate totals. Those totals do not allow the committee to identify unit-specific problems, evaluate staffing-plan compliance, or provide meaningful transparency.

We also stood in solidarity with Emergency Department nurses and voted to classify three Assignment Despite Objection forms as unresolved. Nurses have spent months working with management to address persistent triage concerns in the ED without reaching a resolution. These ADOs will now be submitted to the Washington State Department of Health for review.

ADOs are among the most powerful tools we have to document unsafe conditions and enforce our staffing plans. Complete an ADO whenever your unit is out of staffing-plan compliance at any point during your shift. This includes concerns involving:

• Inadequate staffing or improper skill mix
• Breaking another nurse while having a patient load
• Assignments that do not reflect patient acuity
• Nurses tasked with leadership responsibilities who are also assigned patients
• Missed or delayed meal and rest breaks
• Any other staffing or safety concern on your unit

In addition to filing ADOs, it is important to escalate staffing issues in real time.

The next Hospital Staffing Committee meeting will be held on September 2. The committee is open to all nursing staff, and work on the 2027 staffing plans will soon begin. We strongly encourage everyone who can attend to join us and make their voice heard.

September Union Meetup with WSNA President Justin Gill

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our August meetup at Stemma West Brewing! We had a great time and appreciated the opportunity to connect outside of work.

Our next meetup will be held at Trackside Beer Garden on Tuesday, September 1, from 1800 to 2000. We will also welcome a special guest, WSNA President Justin Gill.

Justin began his nursing career as an RN at St. Joe’s, and we are excited to welcome him back for the evening.

Our monthly meetups are casual, family-friendly gatherings where nurses can connect, raise concerns, exchange ideas, and build relationships away from the hospital. We will send additional reminders as the date approaches, and we hope to see you there.

Whether we are meeting at the staffing committee, rounding the units at night, or gathering together outside the hospital, our strength comes from nurses showing up for one another. Every conversation, every ADO, and every act of participation helps build a stronger union and a safer St. Joe’s.

Laura Bayes, Co-Chair
Amber Pouley, Co-Chair
Jenn Engelhart, Co-Secretary
Laura Sherwood, Co-Secretary
Tracy Pullar, Treasurer
Stacy Gaggia Libby, Grievance Officer
Celeste Montoy-Seimears, Membership Officer
Tracy Taylor, Membership Officer
Kristin Malmo, Communications Officer
Kelly Carroll, Communications Officer
Errin Hull, Co-Occupational Health and Safety Officer
Jessica Moran, Co-Occupational Health and Safety Officer

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Jared Richardson, jrichardson@wsna.org.