WSNA is pleased to announce your newly elected WSNA Officers:

Co-Chairs: Nicole Miller and Stephanie Peterka

Treasurer: Lela Riherd

Grievance Officer: Julie McElroy

Please take a moment to thank outgoing Co-Chairs Julie Rose and Erin Schuldt. They have worked really hard to represent you for many years, attending meetings on behalf of members, serving as your contract negotiating team, and much more!

Health Care Premiums for 2022

From Outgoing Co-Chairs, Erin Schuldt and Julie Rose:

We realize many of you may be experiencing some sticker shock after seeing the cost of premiums and the amount of employee contributions for 2022.

We spent a significant amount of time looking into alternative plans for 2022, but there was no better alternative for 2022.

Bargaining will be occur again at the end of 2022. It will be important for you to contribute your feedback about health plan premium costs, so that your negotiating team can bargain this in the next negotiations.

The language around this year’s premium contribution is in the contract under article 23 and in the attached vote summary from last year.

The contract was duly ratified by our members, but that does not make the sticker shock any less.

To give a little background, the county could no longer sustain a self-insured plan like we had on HMA, so as of 2021 we switched to WCIF 500. This plan is different because it has a tiered premium rate, so employees with dependents cost the county more money.

A WCIF plan was the only option we were given that would cover all members without dissolving the job share agreement. Job shares made up 35% of our union pre-COVID. Currently 25% of our union is part-time. Our members have voiced that these are of great value and are a cornerstone of our union contract.

We succeeded in bargaining a better WCIF plan with a lower deductible, than the county initially offered. We also bargained lower premium costs for 2021.

We have a history of having great healthcare insurance. The harsh reality is that costs of healthcare insurance are increasing. WSNA and your negotiating team will continue to do everything in our power to mitigate the impact on our unit.

Because we are a small unit, your voice makes a big difference – please give feedback to the new co-chairs Stephanie and Nicole and the rep Hanna Welander for future considerations around medical coverage.

For questions, contact WSNA Nurse Representative Hanna Welander at hwelander@wsna.org.