We met with management on 9/1 and spent the morning in small group, focused discussions with management. This was a deliberate shift in approach to see whether narrowing the conversation could help us identify shared problems and potential solutions. Our goal remains to find areas where both sides can agree and make meaningful progress.

During these conversations, we heard some surprising perspectives from management regarding per diem staffing and several related issues. These insights will help us better understand where their concerns are coming from, even if we don’t yet agree with their conclusions or proposed fixes. Time will tell if management listened to our concerns and intend to work with us in seeking a mutually acceptable solution. 

Topics covered yesterday included:

• Per diem requirements
• Meal and rest break coverage
• Charge nurse assignments

Late in the day, we passed along several core concepts we expect to see reflected in any viable proposal.

Late in the day management proposed a solution to the "Bubble List" issue and pending arbitration.   For those who are not aware, the surgical and procedure areas keep a rotating list.  If nurses rise to the top of a list, they are expected to remain available to have to take call on very short notice. While on-call to be available, the hospital is not paying the nurses, it is a change in a published schedule and many nurses have not been allowed to opt out, even if they have something planned that conflicts with being able to respond.  This type of system is not permitted by your contract.  We are seeking to resolve the matter through bargaining that is mutually acceptable to both the hospital and nurses. The problem with management's current proposal is, though it pays for short-notice call, it still contains what's essentially a Bubble List — nurses could still be called in on their day off to cover a call shift with little to no notice.  We talked over our issues with the proposal at the table and plan to make a counterproposal that fixes both the pay issue and the notice issue. 

We’ll continue pushing for movement and for solutions that support nurses and strengthen safe working conditions. Due to scheduling needs, our next bargaining date is September 22nd. To that end, we have extended contract expiration through the end of September.  

A BIG shoutout to those who dropped in to observe bargaining yesterday!

What Our Next Action?

The “People Over Profits” ribbons have been a clear success throughout the hospital! But we have to keep putting pressure on management to get real change. Starting next week, we’ll be rolling out an action that shows management we're a united front and all stand behind our bargaining team. This one is going to require a bit more coordination than the ribbons, so we’ll have a handful of activists to help make sure thing are going smoothly.

Join us tonight for a bargaining update with more details!

If you want to be one of those activists, we’ll be having two virtual meetings tomorrow (9/3) to roll out the materials for it. Those meetings at 1800-1830 and 2000-2030 on September 3. If neither of those times work for you, reach out to Maia Hepburn at mhepburn@wsna.org

Here’s the link for those meetings.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Want to attend bargaining on September 22?  Please sign up here WSNA at Virginia Mason Medical Center: RSVP to Observe Bargaining – Fill out form.

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