Virginia Mason Medical Center

What does it mean? What impact will it have on nurses and medical care? What can you do to help? #

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Since Virginia Mason announced they are in discus­sion with CHI Franciscan to create a Joint Operating Company (JOC), WSNA has heard from many nurses asking how the partner­ship will impact the medical services provided to our commu­nity and what impact any new entity will have on nurses currently working for Virginia Mason. 

Information Request of Virginia Mason #

WSNA members have questions about how the proposed JOC will impact nurses and the health care services provided to the commu­nity. WSNA filed a request for infor­ma­tion asking Virginia Mason to provide answers in a variety of areas including: the effec­tive date of the proposed JOC; whether all the nurses employed at Virginia Mason shall continue to be employed after the JOC is formed; whether the JOC or other employer shall adopt and comply with the terms and condi­tions of the collec­tive bargaining agree­ment between Virginia Mason and WSNA. Virginia Mason has informed WSNA that their attor­neys are reviewing and will be preparing a response our request.

Important Advisory Alert #

WSNA is aware that some Virginia Mason nurses are planning to attend a demon­stra­tion on September 18 in front the Hospital to protest the possible reduc­tion of vital services to our commu­nity as the result of a poten­tial joint venture with CHI.

WSNA shares the concerns of Virginia Mason nurses concerning the reduc­tion or elimi­na­tion of services provided to our commu­nity, including denying access to repro­duc­tive health services and severely restricting end of life care services. However, this partic­ular demon­stra­tion may expose nurses to adverse action by Virginia Mason, including disci­pline and discharge.

It is quite possible that Virginia Mason may assert that any planned demon­stra­tion violates the broad ​“no strike/​no picketing clause” of our collec­tive bargaining agree­ment. Such clauses are common­place in collec­tive bargaining agree­ments. If the demon­stra­tion were found to violate this provi­sion of the contract, nurses involved partic­i­pating in it could be subject to disci­pline and discharge.

BECAUSE OF THESE RISKS, WE STRONGLY REQUEST THAT THE PLANNED DEMON­STRA­TION NOT TAKE PLACE AND THAT YOU RELAY THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR FELLOW NURSES.

The risks associ­ated with this partic­ular action are simply too high. Instead, we invite nurse to join WSNA in other approaches to getting our message across to Manage­ment that we will not sit idly by while impor­tant services to the commu­nity are eliminated.

Sign the open letter to Virginia Mason CEO #

As WSNA nurses at Virginia Mason, we are concerned that the commit­ment to provide Washington residents access to the full range of legal health services including women’s health services and end of life care will be abandoned under the proposed Joint Operating Company (JOC) with CHI Franciscan. We are also concerned that compre­hen­sive health care services to the LGBTQ commu­nity will be at risk under the JOC. This partner­ship and the resulting impact on care is not motivated by the needs of patients. This proposed partner­ship is deeply flawed and misguided, and it should not be approved unless there is a commit­ment to deliver the same quality and breadth of care our commu­nity has come to expect from Virginia Mason.

Add your name to the open letter calling on Dr. Kaplan to defend the health care services provided at Virginia Mason and resist any effort to limit those services as part of any agree­ment with CHI Franciscan. 

Important information from local unit call #

We recently had a Virginia Mason local unit call with WSNA leader­ship to hear directly from nurses concerns and questions about the poten­tial Joint Operating Company with CHI Franciscan. We know that many of you were not able to be on the call to voice your concerns or questions and we want to hear from all of the bargaining unit.

Completing the survey will take less than two minutes. Follow this link to be sure your voice is heard.

Jane Hill Little-John, RN, Interim Local Unit Chair
Kari Benning, RN, Local Unit Co-Chair
Suzanne Baek, RN, Local Unit Secretary/​Treasurer
Susan Dunn, RN, Grievance

Michelle Moore, RN, WSNA Nurse Representative