UNILATERAL schedule changes

WSNA has become aware that the hospital is attempting to unilaterally change nurses' schedules, such as changing nurses from a day shift to a night shift without mutual consent. Many times, this is a contract violation except for emergency conditions involving patient care and low census conditions... per your CBA. Failing to hire and staff to the staffing plan that results in ongoing inability to properly staff the hospital does not allow the hospital to do this.  If your schedule has been changed after it was published and without your consent, please contact WSNA ASAP with the details.

WSNA has also become aware of unilateral increases in call requirements in some departments. This combined with other staffing / schedule issues is becoming untenable for many nurses and other nursing staff. We need your voice to fix this!

Please continue to fill out ADOs and report suspected contract violations to WSNA. Also, we strongly encourage you to start attending the weekly bargaining updates and come observe negotiations. Details are below.

Bargaining Session #5 Update

The hospital continues to pass new and sometimes outrageous and arguably counterproductive proposals.

Benefits - To date, the hospital is not willing to commit to continue access to fulltime medical benefits for the many nurses who work a 0.75 FTE. We know this benefit is critical for many nurses with a 0.75 FTE, and many have made work decisions based on this benefit.

Charge Nurse training - WSNA asked for additional charge nurse training when requested by a nurse, so they are adequately trained to perform competently in the roll. The hospital countered with a proposal that charge nurses won’t be disciplined if they make a “good faith” request for more training. HUH?  Was the hospital thinking about disciplining new charge nurses when they identify a need for additional training???

Break Relief - The hospital has now proposed break buddies in a manner that violates the staffing law. Per DOH, compliance with the hospital staffing plan is “assessed by looking at the number of nursing staff and patient assignments throughout a shift and evaluating if that matches what is in the hospital’s staffing plan.” When the hospital uses the break buddy system, the result is non-compliance with the staffing plan. Also, the hospital is only measuring compliance at the beginning of a shift, which is also not in compliance with the staffing law. We know that staffing and census often changes throughout a shift. 

Rest Between Shifts (RBS) - The hospital wants to eliminate language that triggers rest between shifts if you VOLUNTEER to work extra to help fill in holes in staffing.  We think this is short-sighted and will deter nurses from offering to work past the end of their shifts or to pick up extra shifts, when the hospital is critically short-staffed.  Speaking of which, how about just hiring and staffing to the staffing plan instead of to productivity levels?  That would, for the most part, eliminate the need for RBS which can be a safety issue. 

Layoff Language - Management introduced yet another new proposal - one to eliminate the layoff language when nurse’s FTE is reduced by more than 0.2 FTE. The current language provides a process for nurses when FTEs are reduced. Instead, now the hospital only wants the layoff language to be triggered when a full layoff occurs. Reducing a nurse’s FTE by more than 0.2 FTE has real consequences for things like benefits, salary, etc. and nurses should have rights when that occurs.  We proposed improvements to the layoff language.  It is unclear why the hospital is proposing this takeaway. 

What we proposed –

• Reasonable language to help us get to a new contract
• Language that helps facilitate the resolution of issues and grievances
• Language to address the “Bubble List” grievance and other issues in departments with mandatory call
• Updated per diem language - Thank you to all the per diems for your participation in the process and the input you provided!

Come See What Happens at the Table with Management!

Bargaining Observers

Want to see what is going on in bargaining?  Our next bargaining date is Thursday, August 20.  Next session, we will be continuing these conversations. If you are reading this, you know these topics are important and we would welcome you to be a part of the discussions.  Your participation helps us show management how important these concepts are. If you would like to be an observer please complete this form:   WSNA at Virginia Mason Medical Center: RSVP to Observe Bargaining – Fill out form 

Weekly Bargaining Update Meetings

Please join us for weekly bargaining update meetings where you will be able to discuss what is going on at the bargaining table with members from your negotiation team.  These meetings will start tomorrow, Wednesday, June 24 and run the duration of bargaining through the contract ratification vote. 

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#

Sara Frey, JD, BSN, RN
Nurse Representative
sfrey@wsna.org