After too many months, St. Joe’s Lactation Consultant RNs finally have a tentative agreement! Because this agreement affects the Contract, all St. Joe’s bargaining unit nurses can (and should!) vote to ratify this TA on August 29 from 1600-2000, location TBA. Here is the summary of the Lactation Consultant TA. The full agreement will be available for review at the ratification vote. The bargaining team recommends a YES vote.

Because the Lactation Consultants joined the Union in the middle of our contract, we negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding specific to them that expires when the St. Joe’s contract expires on October 31, 2024. If any term isn’t specifically mentioned below, the St. Joe’s contract would apply.

• As of the execution of this agreement, the following RN Lactation Consultants are covered by this agreement: Kathleen Coppin, Crystal Jarvis, Katie Meers, Brianna Payne, Stephanie Ray, Alicia Riley, Jo Anne Slaybaugh and Rivka Weiss. (Welcome!)
• Wages. Following ratification of this MOU, all RN Lactation Consultants will be moved onto the RN wage scale set forth in the CBA. (That is, Article 9 and the subsequent wage reopener MOU).  If the MOU is ratified on August 29, 2023, these wages will become effective on September 17, 2023.
  • Wage inequity was one of the biggest reasons the LCs unionized. Without a wage scale, management paid the LCs whatever it could get away with and the LCs had no way of knowing if their wage reflected their years of experience. Merely by moving onto our scale, LCs will receive anywhere between a 17.1% increase to a 51.2% increase.
• Placement on wage scale. We agreed on which step each nurse will be placed in advance – we wanted no misunderstanding after ratification.
• Per Diem Differential.   Per diem nurses shall be paid in accordance with the staff nurse longevity schedule plus fifteen percent (15%).
• Certification Pay.  RN Lactation Consultants will not receive certification pay for their IBCLC credential.
  • We could not win this at the table this time and it stings – this costly certification is what distinguishes these nurses and gives them the additional value that the Hospital relies on. Management argued that LCs shouldn’t receive the certification differential because, they said, the IBCLC was necessary for the LCs to do their jobs. We pointed out that other bargaining unit nurses receive cert diff for certs that are necessary to do their jobs. Mystifyingly (and incorrectly), management compared the IBCLC to ACLS. In the end, the LC bargaining team decided to accept this agreement and fight for this cert next year, when we all sit down together at the bargaining table.
• B.S.N./M.S.N. Differential.  RN Lactation Consultants will now receive the same advanced degree diff as the rest of the bargaining unit – they hadn’t before.
• Preceptor Pay. LCs will now receive preceptor pay under the CBA.  
• Per Diem Availability Requirement. All per diem LCs will work under the same availability requirements as the rest of the RNs.
• Seniority. Currently employed full-time and part-time LCs will have seniority in the existing WSNA bargaining unit (based on hours compensated excluding standby) from their most recent date of hire as a regular employee. Cut hours shall be included for purposes of accrual of seniority. Any per diem RN Lactation Consultant employed by St. Joseph Medical Center on the date of ratification who previously worked as a full-time or part-time RN with St. Joseph Medical Center and who returns to regular status without a break in employment will have any time worked as a regular FTE RN restored as previously accrued seniority under CBA Section 7.1.
• Clinical Groups. Lactation Consultants shall be added to the listing of “Clinical Groups” specified in Section 7.6.1. 
• Flexible Staffing (Cut Hours). Existing CBA Section 7.6 will not apply to LCs. Instead, the following system will be used:
  • The Employer shall apply a system of flexible staffing to accommodate fluctuating patient census and staffing requirements by assignment.  The nurse may opt to use earned PTO accruals to offset cut hours; if so, hours are to be entered under “PTO cut” utilizing the time clock. 
  • The Employer will give at least one and one-half (1 ½) hours’ notice in advance of the shift of pending cut hours.  If the Employer does not attempt to notify the nurse at least one and one-half (1 ½) hours in advance of the shift, and the nurse reports to work, the nurse will be provided with four (4) hours of work at the regular rate of pay. 
  • Where the Employer has left a message on the nurse’s telephone answering machine or has attempted to reach the nurse at home (documented attempts will be recorded in the staffing office) at least one and one-half (1 ½) hours prior to the shift start time advising the nurse not to report for work, such communication shall constitute receipt of notice not to report for work and this Section shall not apply.
• This MOU will become effective the day after ratification except where otherwise specifically noted.   

In solidarity: Jo Anne Slaybaugh, Crystal Jarvis, Brianna Payne, Matthew McGuire, Emily Nollmeyer, Sally Budack, Shelly Mead, Yunna Flenord, Teresa Kindell, Carina Price, Rachel Wachter, Shannon Suchland

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Barbara Friesen at bfriesen@wsna.org.