Over the past two months, we have seen rising staffing demands, higher patient acuity, and an outpouring of ADOs describing heartbreaking conditions that are burning out NICU nurses. Keep reading for our plan to increase pressure on MultiCare, along with updates on per diem scheduling, the DELS Nurse premium pay grievance, and a reminder to vote on the Case Manager MOU.

While the stories of short staffing and untenable patient assignments have been rolling in, MultiCare management has refused to increase incentive pay to encourage nurses to come in on their days off, choosing to keep IPP at just $20 per hour. Let us be clear, the decision to cap IPP at $20 is entirely MultiCare’s choice, a fact they acknowledged at Conference Committee. If they wanted to, MultiCare could raise the flat dollar amount as high as necessary to bring nurses in.

On top of that, despite having more than two months since ratification to comply with new contract language requiring break buddies to be used only as a last resort, break buddies continue to be the primary way breaks are taken in the NICU.

We’ve had enough.

This week, we are launching a pressure campaign to push MultiCare to do the right thing and invest in safe staffing.

On Friday, April 24, we will hold in-person meeting time from 0630 to 0830. Our plan is to meet in the breakroom, but MultiCare is currently denying the Union access and attempting to pressure us into meeting elsewhere. That is unacceptable. As of now, we are still planning to meet in the breakroom.

We are also launching our No Skeleton Staffing campaign.

We will be handing out No Skeleton Staffing stickers to wear on the unit and postcards for NICU nurses to share directly with CNE Lori Chudnofsky about short staffing, break buddies, and other workplace concerns. WSNA will collect these postcards and deliver them directly to the CNE.

Safe staffing is essential to nurse and patient safety. It is time for all of us to say enough is enough and demand that MultiCare do the right thing. Sticker up, fill out a postcard, and stand with your fellow nurses.

Per Diem Scheduling

We continue to see issues with per diem scheduling that we do not believe align with the intent of the contract language. MultiCare taking a dramatically different interpretation of newly negotiated language is unfortunately nothing new, but it is something we will not allow to go unchallenged.

We are meeting with management again on Thursday at Conference Committee, where we hope to collaboratively establish unit scheduling guidelines that respect per diem nurses and do not attempt to treat them like FTE positions without benefits or a patterned schedule.

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

DELS Nurse Premium Pay Grievance

MultiCare is claiming that a bargaining note from negotiations allows them to delay implementation of the DELS Nurse premium for up to six months, and to deny retroactive pay for nurses who have worked in the DELS role since ratification.

We strongly disagree and have filed an association grievance on the matter.

As an association grievance, it begins at Step 2 and will be heard by CNE Lori Chudnofsky on April 24 at 1230 via Teams. We encourage any NICU nurse who wants to attend to join the grievance meeting and show management that we stand together.

Case Manager Vote

Last week, we reached a tentative agreement on an MOU that brings the Mary Bridge Case Managers into our Union. We are excited to welcome them and strongly endorse a YES vote.

The vote will be held Thursday, April 23, from 0600 to 1600. Ballots will be sent to your personal email.

In Solidarity, your bargaining team,
Crystal Anderson, RN, NICU
Michele Christiansen, RN, NICU
Michelle Olstad, RN, Case Management
Susan Young, RN, Case Management

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