We met Thursday, Aug 20 for our 6th session.  At the end of the day, management let us know they wouldn’t have a wage proposal for us until next Wednesday’s session on 8/26… despite having over a week to prepare. To date, management has only offered 2% increases in each year, which would leave us way behind inflation and well below what it will take to compete for nurses and keep the hospital fully staffed. 

Want to know what they propose before anyone else? COME TO BARGAINING ON AUGUST 26 TO HEAR MANAGEMENT’S WAGE PROPOSAL STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE!  Your presence shows management we’re all in this together. RSVP here to join us: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/n0DvP79sNy

Here are other updates from yesterday’s session:

Benefits for 0.75 FTE Nurses 

Management still has full-time benefits for 0.75 on the chopping block, which would mean serious increases to premium costs for much of our bargaining unit.  We have heard from many 0.75 FTE nurses that maintaining their benefits at the current level is a critical issue for them and intend to fight this huge takeaway!

Per Diems 

Management continues to propose onerous requirements for per diem nurses that would basically convert them to a part-time position while offering nothing in return – including just cause protections.  The Hospital barely moved from their previous proposal by decreasing availability requirements from 5 shifts to 4 but maintained the burdensome weekend and holiday  availability requirements.  Rather than hiring sufficient part-time and full-time nurses to staff units – or Baylor shift nurses to staff over the weekend – one has to wonder if they see per diems as just another Band-Aid fix for the hospital’s staffing problems. 

Other Proposals

We were able to secure some tentative agreements to proposals we made – 

• Language that defines what a resource nurse is, which will make it easier to enforce staffing plans when this role gets floated or given a patient assignment. 
• Gender neutral language
• Additional housekeeping language to streamline our contract. 

Flyering at the VM Fundraisers

Last Friday, a group of WSNA nurses got kicked out of the Boeing Classic golf tournament. We were looking to talk with members of the community and tell people about our negotiations. So, we went to the PGA tournament in Snoqualmie, where the proceeds go to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. While “Signs, posters, and banners” were prohibited, we were hoping to hand out flyers and have conversations with some of the spectators.

We showed up in our WSNA shirts, and we were allowed in with our VM IDs. But we were being watched by security. We found a good spot and pulled out flyers. Within a minute, two people working the event told us we couldn’t hand them out. Only sponsors were allowed to hand out materials or solicit anything. So, they told us we had to leave the country club’s grounds if we wanted to talk to anyone. And even after we did that, security was watching us outside the event.

Instead, we placed our flyers on people’s windshields in the parking lot a mile away.

We were more successful outside the Boeing Classic Gala later that evening. We handed out flyers outside of Pier 70 in downtown Seattle as people went into the VMFH event. By our estimates we talked to 140 people, and the majority were supportive of our message. They know that management’s careless cost cutting will hurt nurses’ ability to take care of patients.

Here’s what Haley Sheridan in IV Therapy had to say:

“Our outreach and bid for support was well received by the community members and many of the fellow VM employees attending the gala. We voiced our concerns about our rapidly approaching expiration of our current contract, and the lack of movement with any of the WSNA proposals for our new contract. Our message was clear: VM needs to shape up and provide competitive wages, support, and resources for our nurses to continue to safely provide the high quality of care our community and VM expects of us.”

Upcoming Actions

Right now, we have a couple ways to stay involved as we get closer to expiration: 

1) WATCH THIS SPACE: The first is an action we’re taking next week, but we don’t want the details falling into the wrong hands. We’ll need every nurse in the hospital to participate, and there’s more information to come – keep an eye on your text messages for updates. If you want details now, reach out to Maia, our organizer, at 301-378-3807

2) JOIN US AT BARGAINING: Our next bargaining sessions are on Wed, Aug. 26 and Tuesday, Sept. 1 and we want to get as many observers as possible. The day after the contract is set to expire, the bargaining team will push to finally get a deal. And they need your support! If you are not working, we need you to come to bargaining! RSVP HERE: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/n0DvP79sNy 

3) TUNE IN TO OUR WEEKLY UPDATES: We are continuing our Wednesday Virtual Bargaining Updates with a focus on Contract Expiration. What does it mean to work with an expired contract? How does that help and hurt us? And have our last two bargaining sessions gotten us closer to a contract? Find out 8/26! 

MEETING WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY - the link will remain the same from week to week.  Meetings will be:

Every Wednesday
6-6:30 pm
8-8:30 pm

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)
Find a local number
Phone conference ID: 499 696 793#

Need representation or have contract questions?
Contact Nurse Representative, Sara Frey at SFrey@wsna.org.

Become a member or update your information:
Membership application - WSNA

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