We met on January 6, 2021, for our third negoti­a­tion session. We reached a tenta­tive agreement!

Despite the county’s finan­cial diffi­cul­ties, we succeeded in securing a minimum 1.25% wage increase for 2022. Should any other union-repre­sented employees receive a higher wage increase in 2022, we have a reopener clause so that we can attempt to negotiate a higher wage increase. Should any other non-repre­sented employees receive a higher wage increase in 2022, we would automat­i­cally receive the same wage increase.



WINS:

  • A great health care benefits package for 2021 – 2022.
  • Increased the vacation carry­over cap into 2021
  • This will be a two-year agree­ment, 2021 – 2022.
  • Succeeded in increasing the RN wage range from 40 to 41, a 7% increase. 
  • The 0.9 FTE pilot project is now permanent.
  • Added language clari­fying how overtime is paid for part-time staff.
  • For the duration of the COVID pandemic, agreed that the HD can hire tempo­rary PHN staff to work more than 1040 hours and receive benefits. This is to assure that staff are not working too much overtime and have an oppor­tu­nity to take time off. 


NEXT NEGOTI­A­TIONS:

  • We fought hard to get a certi­fi­ca­tion premium in this contract for nurses who are certi­fied inter­preters, but the county absolutely could not agree in their current finan­cial condition. 
  • We continue our push to get parity (year-for-year credit) language but the county is not in a position to agree now. 

We recom­mend a YES vote. Details about educa­tion sessions and the vote will be announced shortly.

In Unity from your WSNA Negoti­ating Team and Co-Chairs,

Erin Schuldt and Julie Rose

For questions, please contact WSNA Nurse Rep, Hanna Welander at hwelander@wsna.org or (206) 575‑7979, Ext. 3035.