On Friday, 12/19/25, we met with management for our last scheduled bargaining session before our contract expires on 12/31/25. We came to the table ready to finish a fair contract. Management did not. It is now clear they are unwilling to move on our core priorities.

Wages. Ratios. Real protections in the Hospital Staffing Committee. Ending the use of CANMs as charge nurses. Reducing unsafe call burdens. Advancing racial and social justice in our workplace and community. These are not side issues. These are the standards nurses need to deliver safe care and build a hospital that works for patients and staff alike.

Management may not care, but we do. And now it is time to show them how much.

We have begun circulating informational picket pledges. If management refuses to take nurses seriously at the table, they will see us standing shoulder to shoulder outside the hospital. Sign a pledge. Show management that we are united and prepared to act for the contract we deserve.

Below is a summary of where things stand and what comes next.

Ratios and the Hospital Staffing Committee

Management insists we must choose between keeping nurse to patient ratios in our contract or securing protections in the Hospital Staffing Committee. We reject that false choice.

Our ratios are the bare minimum needed to protect nurses and patients from unsafe assignments. Without strong HSC protections, management could approve staffing plans that cut CNAs and other essential staff, further endangering patient care and nurse safety.

We are demanding both.

Tacoma General nurses are the only nurses in the state with ratios in our contract. That matters. We will not give that up, and we will not accept staffing plans pushed through without a single affirmative vote from a WSNA nurse.

CANMs as Charge Nurses

Management continues to claim that CANMs are not really charge nurses. We agree. And when a CANM is scheduled instead of a charge, management has deprived the unit of a vital resource.

Charge nurses are essential. They troubleshoot, manage patient flow, support staff, and protect breaks and meal periods. Replacing that role with managers who hold disciplinary authority undermines trust, communication, and patient safety.

Each unit staffed with a full complement of CANMs eliminates four full time union nursing jobs. That is four union families losing hours, wages, and opportunity.

Enough is enough. The CANM project has failed. Charge nurse roles belong to union nurses, every shift, every time.

Call Shifts and Baylor Shifts

Some nurses at our hospital work dozens of on-call hours every week on top of full-time schedules. These expectations are unreasonable and may be illegal.

Other hospitals have already figured this out. Call burden reductions and improved Baylor shifts have worked for over a year at St. Joe’s. These programs reduce call, stabilize staffing, and improve weekends for nurses and patients.

Management has seen the proof. They are choosing not to invest in Tacoma General nurses.

We know better is possible because better already exists just down the street.

Wages

Management continues to say they want to be “market competitive,” but we fundamentally disagree on what the market actually is, and what it means to be “competitive.”

For Tacoma General nurses, the market is St. Joe’s. We work in the same city, serve the same community, and compete for the same nurses. When a nurse leaves Tacoma General, they are not leaving for a distant or non comparable hospital. They are going down the street.

Management wants to dilute that reality by comparing Tacoma General to hospitals that are not direct competitors. That approach ignores how nurses actually make employment decisions and allows management to justify wages that don’t make us competitive with our closest peer.

Even using management’s broader comparisons, their wage proposal barely places some steps ahead in year one and then slips behind St. Joe’s again in years two and three. That is not competitive, and it certainly does not recruit or retain nurses at Tacoma General.

We put forward a clear and honest proposal. Every step $1.50 ahead of St. Joe’s in year one, followed by a 4.25 percent increase in year two and a 4 percent increase in year three. That is what it takes to recruit, retain, and respect nurses in the only market that matters.

Anything less means continued turnover, continued understaffing, and continued strain on the nurses who stay.

Where We Go From Here

Our contract expires in nine days. While most provisions remain in effect, the no strike and no lockout clause expires. That means informational picketing becomes an option.

Informational picketing is not a strike. Nurses who are scheduled to work will still work. The goal is public accountability and pressure on management to meet our priorities. Labor law requires ten days notice, which is why we are asking nurses to pledge now.

We have seen this work before. During our last negotiations, management moved only after nurses made it clear we were ready to picket.

Sign a pledge today by contacting a bargaining team member or WSNA organizer Maia Hepburn at MHepburn@wsna.org.

Get Involved

Join Spill the Tea with TJ every Tuesday at 2000. Our next meeting is 12/23. These meetings are your space to ask questions, hear updates, and stand with your coworkers.

You can also observe bargaining in person. Contact Maia Hepburn at MHepburn@wsna.org if you are interested. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for 1/8/25, location to be determined.

Management has made their position clear. Now it is our turn. Stand up. Sign the pledge. Show them that Tacoma General nurses are united, organized, and ready to fight for the fair contract we deserve.

Follow us on Instagram at TG_Nurses

In Solidarity,
Therese Juntunen, NTICU
Michelle Stevenson, 5/6 MSICU/PCU
Sarah Huber, Emergency Department
Christina Nicholson, Resource RN
George Murray, NTICU
Marc Jebousek, Emergency Department
Anna Vermaire, Pulse Cardiac Short Stay
Anna Glorioso-Kaufmann, Operating Room
Jaime Cary, Labor and Delivery
Rachel Ballou-Church, Medical Oncology

Questions? Contact one of your officers, one of your bargaining team members, or Nurse Rep Jared Richardson (jrichardson@wsna.org).