Negotiations are starting soon!

Your current contract between WSNA and Virginia Mason expires May 31, 2021. Thank you to all that took the time to fill out the survey. Survey feedback from participating RNs will be the driver to set priorities for our bargaining. We have a great team in place and are looking forward to getting this process underway. If there is an issue/issues you would like to see addressed, please forward your concerns to WSNA Nurse Representative Michelle Moore at mmoore@wsna.org.

Staffing Committee

Your staffing committee meets monthly to review all our staffing needs. We appreciate all your hard work and taking the extra moments to fill out the ADO’s. Please remember, if you don’t let us know about staffing issues, we can’t fight for your needs. Filling out and submitting an ADO form may protect you one day if ever an untoward outcome should occur with yourself or a patient. Please protect yourselves and stand up for what you need.

What is the purpose of filling out a Staffing Complaint/​ADO form?
Staffing Complaint/​ADO forms provide documented evidence that a problem exists on a unit and initiates a process for improving the situation. Once management has been presented with an issue, it is incumbent upon them to address it. Additionally, you are documenting the facts, which may be helpful to you if there is a negative outcome.

The submitted Staffing Concern/​ADO also provides the Staffing Committee members with specific details, rather than with anecdotal examples about staffing complaints, and helps them determine if a complaint has been resolved or not. The Staffing Committee has the legal responsibility to determine if staffing complaints are resolved or unresolved. Complaints that show an unresolved trend for 60 days or more could result in an investigation by the Department of Health and possible fines.

When appropriate, some complaints may be taken to Conference Committee by our WSNA Local Unit officers to try to resolve the concern.

This form is intended to help out the staff and surface concerns. It is actually illegal to retaliate against any nurse for submitting any complaint related to staffing. If any nurse feels they are being penalized or retaliated against by their manager for filling out an ADO, please let any of your officers or Nurse Representative know ASAP!

Know your rights: Workers Compensation is available if you are out sick with COVID-19 or quarantining

Many of you have told us that you have not received workers’ compensation information from your employers. Workers’ compensation is an insurance program through the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) that is available to workers who fall ill or are injured on the job. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Jay Inslee has directed L&I to assume health care workers’ COVID-19 exposure happened at work “unless there is evidence that no on-the-job exposure occurred.” If you are out sick with COVID-19 or are ordered to quarantine after exposure, you can apply for workers’ compensation if you do not have PTO left or if you would prefer to preserve your PTO.

Many of Washington’s hospitals are self-insured for workers’ compensation. Virginia Mason is self-insured and you should ask for a workers’ compensation form, they are required to give it to you. If you ask for a form and do not receive one, please contact your nurse representative who can help connect you with L&I. The final decision regarding a workers’ compensation claim is always made by L&I — not by the employer.

To ensure faster response from L&I, nurses working for self-insured employers should ask their employer for a paper form first; if employees of self-insured employers use the FileFast system, the claim will be denied and re-routed to L&I’s Self-Insured program to be routed for action.

Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council

Virginia Mason Nurses have now joined the MLK central Labor council. MLK Labor is the central body of labor organizations in King County, Washington. They are affiliated with the National AFL-CIO, the central labor organization in the United States, representing more than 13 million working people. Their mission is to unify all labor organizations in King County to build power and strength for all workers. To find out more, http://mlklabor.org/

If you would like to be one of the delegates, representing Virginia Mason Nurses on this council, please reach out to your officers or WSNA nurse rep.

Convention 2021

Don't forget to attend the Washington State Nurses Convention. We are going virtual this year. Click on the image below for more information.

In Solidarity,
WSNA Local Unit Officers; Jane Hill Little-John, RN, Kari Benning, RN, Arlene Alba, RN, Suzanne Baek, RN, Susan Dunn, RN, and Jamie Williams

Not a member of WSNA? Join today! Find out how to join.

Michelle Moore, BSN, RN, IBCLC, WSNA Nurse Rep mmoore@wsna.org 206-575-7979, Ext.3019 (office)