Come to our Sign-Making Party on 10/28!
Picket Sign-Making Party, Picket Details, and Busting Management’s Myths
Read on for an update on next week’s picket sign-making party and answers to your burning questions about the picket! We’ll also bust some myths management might be spreading on your unit so you’re armed with info.
Join us Next Wednesday, 10/28, for a Sign-Making Party!
Before we hit the streets, let’s get creative. Join us next Wednesday, 10/28, for a sign-making party! We’re still confirming specific times and locations, so stay tuned. In the meantime, save the date and keep an eye out for more details – we’ll pass them along as soon as we have them!
PICKET COUNTDOWN: T-MINUS 9 DAYS!
Remember to mark your calendars and make a plan to attend the picket on Friday, October 30! We’ll be outside the hospital from 7-9 am and 12-2 pm that day. We want management to see our picket line and recognize that it’s not just nurses who demand that they put people over profit – it’s our whole community. Bring your friends and family – this is a great time for kids to put on Halloween costumes and use those outside voices all they want.
Not sure what a picket is? Want to know how this actually helps us at the bargaining table?
Is a picket the same thing as a strike?
No! A picket is not the same thing as a strike. An informational picket is an opportunity for us to share information with the public outside the hospital by exercising our right to communicate about our workplace. It takes place on a normal workday, and we’ll march, carry picket signs, and share our concerns with our community, and we’ll invite the press to come to the event so our message can spread as far as possible.
A strike is a work stoppage. When nurses go on strike, they withhold their labor from management and don’t show up for work or get paid. (Here’s why these terms are easy to mix up: when workers are on strike, they also typically picket outside their workplace so the public knows why they’re striking.)
We’re holding an informational picket on Friday, 10/30, not a strike, so do not skip your shift if you’re scheduled to work! Instead, wear your WSNA shirt to work and try to join us for a few minutes during your rest or meal break. (If you can’t make it during a break, file an ADO.)
Does a picket actually make a difference at the bargaining table?
Yes! By proposing language that implies they don’t plan to follow staffing or break laws, Virginia Mason has made it clear that they don’t think anyone outside the bargaining room notices – or cares about – how the terms in our contract impact patient care every day. A picket calls their bluff.
When nurses hold a successful, well-attended picket, everyone pays attention – including our coworkers, patients, neighbors, elected officials, the local press, and management’s bargaining team. If they know our whole community is watching their next move, management might start to rethink some of the proposals they’ve refused to even consider to date. Pickets often move the needle at the table enough to get us to the finish line.
Our picket could be a serious reality check for VM’s leaders, but only if as many nurses turn out as possible. That’s why we need every nurse to show up on 10/30 – even if it just means visiting the picket line during their rest or meal breaks – or to file an ADO if they can’t make it to the picket during their shift.
Got more questions? Join us at tonight’s bargaining update!
Join your bargaining team and WSNA staff at 6 pm and 8 pm for answers to your questions about next week’s picket, bargaining sessions, and more!
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/255140941463423?p=1IDloVzbvwKzVrrqAr
Meeting ID: 255 140 941 463 423
Passcode: HL6U4ep9
Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,499696793# United States, Seattle
(888) 313-0615,,499696793# United States (Toll-free)
Phone conference ID: 499 696 793#
Mythbusters: Management’s Misinformation Edition
Management knows that, when nurses work together to fight for big changes in their workplaces, we win. That’s why hospital management will do anything in their power to slow us down, including bending the truth until it breaks.
Sure enough, management across Virginia Mason has started slinging myths left and right. They’re hoping something sticks and forces us to back down from a fight, but we know better. Read on for the full story on union insignia and the rules surrounding rest/meal breaks and waivers. By arming yourself with information about your rights, you can inoculate your unit against management’s scare tactics.
CAN I WEAR THAT STICKER OR RIBBON?
Yes – our contract and the NLRA protect your right to wear WSNA stickers or ribbons just like you wear any other sticker or ribbon on the job. When management asks you to remove your sticker or ribbon, knowing how to respond helps you protect your job and enforce the rights our bargaining unit has fought for.
Your WSNA contract expressly protects your right to wear union insignia, which includes buttons, pins, stickers, T-shirts, or other visual messages signaling support for the union, an organizing campaign, or a protest of your working conditions. Just take a look at the agreement we’ve had in place for years now, which you’ll find on Page 59 of the CBA:
“Memorandum of Understanding Staff Nurse Uniform Policy
The Hospital shall maintain its Hospital Staff Apparel Program Policy (effective date June 15, 2009) as it applies to bargaining unit nurses for the life of the parties’ 2010-2013 collective bargaining agreement with the following modifications: . . .
2. Nurses shall be permitted to wear Union insignia.”
This MOU is still in effect now, and it’s not going anywhere; management even proposed rolling it over in its entirety for our next contract term.
Wearing insignia is also considered protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act. In fact, Virginia Mason’s managers are well aware of your rights to wear union insignia because the NLRB ordered them to post a notice of those rights just last year.
Reminder – Management might hope you don’t know your rights and tell you to remove a ribbon or sticker. Here’s what to do if that happens:
- Ask if continuing to wear your ribbon, sticker, or other union insignia could possibly lead to discipline.
- If management says “yes,” remove the insignia and return to work.
- As soon as possible, email your nurse rep, Sara Frey, at sfrey@wsna.org to report what happened. Include the name of your unit, the name of the manager confronted you, the date of the incident, and any reasons management gave you for asking you to remove it.
“I GOTTA GO!” – WHAT COUNTS AS A REST OR MEAL BREAK?
Nurses have reported that some managers are telling nurses that going to the bathroom, taking a sip of water or coffee, or waiting for a patient to arrive counts as their rest break time. NOPE!!!
Per your contract, you are entitled to 15-minute paid rest and meal periods. Each period must be UNINTERRUPTED and ON TIME, and you MUST be COMPLETELY RELIEVED OF DUTY. If this does not happen, you should report it as a missed break/meal.
Remember: do not allow management to bully you into working for free! You DO NOT deduct bathroom time, time you spent hydrating, or time you were waiting for a patient to arrive from your break time each shift – downtime is not break time unless you are completely relieved of duty, including your patient care assignment.
And remember: you are NOT obligated to waive the timing requirements of your breaks or your second meal break, and you can revoke any rest/meal waiver you’ve already signed at any time.
If a manager has told you that the waiver is mandatory or can’t be revoked, or that time spent going to the bathroom, hydrating, or waiting on a patient counts as a rest break, contact one of your local unit officers or your WSNA Nurse Rep at sfrey@wsna.org. Please include as much detail as possible –the date and time of an incident and the unit, manager, and policy involved is info that helps us hold management accountable. Your nurse rep and local unit officers can file a grievance or help you file a complaint with Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (url: https://secure.lni.wa.gov/HealthcareWorkersComplaint/#/).
Reminder -- Make your voice heard at the ballot box!
Voting in the general election is perhaps the single most important thing we can do as individual nurses to help improve our profession. Ballots were delivered this week. Be sure to have a plan to vote no matter who you are voting for and take your ballot to a drop-off box.
You can see the WSNA PAC endorsements at https://www.wsna.org/news/2026/2026-pac-endorsements.
You can see the WSLC Washington State Labor Council endorsements here: Political Action - Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
When we fight, we win!
In solidarity,
Your WSNA Bargaining Team
Hannah Collins-Lewis - Progressive Care
Michael Salters - CCU (ICU)
Kim Travis-Carter – ED
Martha Bermeo – Telemetry
Alison Wortman - Jones 5 – Procedural
Heather Schramm - IV Therapy
Haley Sheridan - IV therapy
Sara McNeil - CCU
Sara Frey, JD, BSN, RN
Nurse Representative
sfrey@wsna.org