In this Update:

• New Child­care options
• ACTION NEEDED-Email UW Leader­ship to bargain impor­tant issues
• ACTION NEEDED- Sign petition to preserve union jobs

WSNA recog­nizes that regis­tered nurses are feeling the pinch of the COVID-19 response as we all scramble to react to this national pandemic.

UWMC has notified WSNA of their day to day challenges and a coali­tion of unions have been working together to address issues of avail­able PPE, daily work uncer­tainty, changes in shifts, overtime, multi-campus floating and more.

WSNA is working around the clock to address the many questions and circum­stances that our regis­tered nurses are confronting. Infor­ma­tion and recom­men­da­tions from national organi­za­tions are changing rapidly and we are working to keep up with them in order to give relevant infor­ma­tion.

We are also working to hold employers account­able to the collec­tive bargaining agree­ments for each insti­tu­tion in order to offer some sense of predictability to RNs in these uncer­tain times

We are grateful for all the essen­tial work that RNs are performing on a daily basis in and out of the face of COVID-19.

Child Care Avail­able – UWMC (Montlake and Northwest)

WSNA continues to work with state and local govern­ment leaders on providing child­care to health care providers during this declared emergency. 

Thank you to those of you who completed WSNA’s child­care survey – we have shared results with the Governor’s Office, King County Executive’s Office and Seattle Mayor’s Office. Having direct infor­ma­tion about your child­care needs helps inform everyone working together to find solutions. As a result, child care is avail­able through a network of providers being coordi­nated by Seattle Public Schools. Avail­able slots are currently full, although the Office of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has told WSNA that more slots will be opening later this week – they encourage you to get on the waiting list now if you might want to take advan­tage of this option. While these child care options currently require payment by individual families, the Mayor’s Office is working on poten­tial funding options so this child care may be subsi­dized at some point in the near future. We will keep you informed of progress on those efforts.

We are also in ongoing conver­sa­tions with the Univer­sity of Washington regarding child­care options avail­able through UW. You can learn more about UW child­care options at: https://​hr​.uw​.edu/​c​o​r​o​n​a​v​i​r​u​s​/​c​h​i​l​d​-​care/. UW Medicine employees (Montlake, HMC and North­west) can submit this online interest form (requires UWNetID to access) to request help finding a child care option.

WSNA needs your help now to support bargaining efforts regarding multi campus floating:

Take just one minute to follow the link below to tell UW Chief Health Officer/​Vice Presi­dent of Medical Affairs Lisa Branden­burg to ​“Do the Right Thing” in encour­aging UW Labor Relations to bargain in good faith toward recog­nizing the prior­i­ties of the RNs and other health care workers at UWMC and NW Hospi­tals.

A coali­tion of unions has been working with UWMC Labor Relations in an effort to move them to consider the prior­i­ties of the RNs such as mainte­nance of FTE, a Multi Campus Float Premium, allowing folks recog­nized by the CDC as ​“high risk” to be accom­mo­dated or opt out of an assign­ment and the list goes on.

We want UWMC to step up and follow the lead of other promi­nent hospi­tals in the area!

Click the link below to take a step toward making a positive change!

Your voice matters…now more than ever.

Encourage all your colleagues to sign onto this as well!

Sign this Petition to preserve jobs across campuses

As part of this ongoing Multi-Union effort, the following petition is being circu­lated by our Union partners in an effort to get UWMC to do the right thing in regard to proposed layoffs across campuses.

Click the link below to stand in solidarity with union workers across campuses.

From all of the front-line staff working in units around the hospital to those in patient homes and units out in the commu­nity, we thank you for your dedica­tion and flexi­bility in these uncer­tain times.

For questions or concerns, please contact WSNA Nurse Repre­sen­ta­tive Ed Zercher at ezercher@​wsna.​org.

In Solidarity,

Ed Zercher BSN, RN
WSNA Nurse Representative