WSNA members have elected new officers!

We invite you to congratulate your officers in their respective positions:

Nicole Miller Co Chair

Kai Rapaport Co Chair

Contact Nicole or Kai regarding questions or concerns about issues of working conditions as they share this role as the leaders of WSNA for the Whatcom nurses and direct the local unit, as such.

Lela Riherd Treasurer. Contact Lela for inquiries regarding approval of the use of local unit funds for defined local unit needs.

Julie McElroy Grievance officer. Contact Julie regarding contract questions or needs for investigation meetings which have the potential to lead to any discipline for union representation.

Each of these officers were elected by WSNA members in good standing and eligible to succeed themselves per your local unit rules. Not sure who to contact for what? When in doubt, ALWAYS reach out. They will work with nurses and the WSNA Nurse Representative Tara Barnes to determine the correct follow up in a timely manner.

Quarterly Conference Committee, 3 BIG highlights from July 16, 2026

• Contract article 11.7 Bilingual Premium. The Director or designee may appoint qualified bargaining unit members as bilingual certified. To be bilingual certified, an employee must prove language fluency via a certification process established by the County. Effective upon date of adoption, any bilingual certified employee appointed shall receive a premium of 2% of their hourly base wage on all compensated hours, to include eligible cashouts on separation. The County will pay the cost of one certification test. Any additional testing needed is at employee’s expense. The number of appointees and the appointment process shall be at the discretion of the department head.

Notes: HR will sends a step-by-step process document to employees who make a request for approval of the bilingual premium certification; also includes the requirement to send receipts for certification for first test that we suggest employees to pursue with their supervisor and HR first. One request was considered for this year but was not pursued by the nurse due to minimal utilization of less than 8 hours in 2025. Be aware! Your clients and caseloads and the need for your bilingual utilization may increase. Do not hesitate to seek approval for bilingual premium if this is the case for you. If you have a bilingual premium request pending and have concerns with the lack of approval for a language you believe will require regular use with clients, please contact a local unit officer as soon as possible so we may address and support the nurse in a timely manner. If a request is denied, it should be in writing and cite the rationale for the denial. 

• Voluntary On-Call premium rotation:

From your contract: WSNA hereafter called “the Union” regarding the Washington State Nurses Association Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) covering the period of January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2028. The purpose of this Letter of Understanding is to record the agreement for the handling of a new voluntary on-call premium rotation. The parties mutually agree as follows:

1. Employees may volunteer for the weekly on-call rotation to cover the 24/7 phone line. 
2. Management will maintain a volunteer sign-up list and employees will express interest through use of the sign-up list.
3. Employees assigned to the on-call rotation shall receive twenty dollars ($20) per day while on-call.
4. On-call assignments shall be at the County’s discretion and distributed as equitably as possible among all qualified volunteer employees.
5. The County reserves the right to make adjustments as necessary to the on-call rotation assignments to meet operational needs. 
6. The on-call rotation is not eligible for any other premium payments provided for in the CBA. Duration and Review The parties will initially review this pilot program in October 2026, to determine if there are any unintended consequences and to evaluate the success of a volunteer program. The parties may mutually agree to extend the trial period, implement all or part of the language modified, or bargain the terms of a new agreement. In December 2026, either party may inform the other it no longer wishes to follow the terms of this LOU and it shall cease effective December 31, 2026. 

Notes from our discussion include there are concerns that if staff did sign up,…maybe they don’t know what they are signing up for. Great point! Thus far, only the supervisors have done it and there is a difference of opinion about the extent of what a nurse does, is responsible for and how to code the time for the time period is a call is responded to by the nurse on volunteer call. There is no current threshold on OT or flex time because of after-hours calls. 

We had hoped that a brief guide sheet would settle the questions that have been raised since starting this pilot. We understand the necessity of a log of how to document and track calls that a nurse who volunteers to take on a week of this duty can utilize with clarity and efficiency. It is important to emphasize that premium exists for nurses who volunteer to receive the daily premium. If a call does come in and a nurse responds to it, it will be paid at the applicable rate of pay which may include time and a half. We will discuss with the nurses at our monthly meeting on September 3 at 10am. Ultimately, decisions do need to be made that honors not only the necessity of having a community resource call line but also provides parameters with respect to the scope of experience and training of the Whatcom nurse. Historically, these calls have not been exclusively taken by registered nurses. Therefore, it is reasonable that there will be limited follow-up, in contrast to the required duties and responsibilities of your regular position. 

Huge thanks to the supervisors for being the “guinea pigs” and sharing back experience to make progress on this pilot; how to make it user-friendly, clear, and efficient for any nurse who may volunteers for on call. On that we can ALL agree! 

• Position Realignment: You may recall our recent discussion with the nurses about the cost-of-living wage increases to hear feedback on this topic. We then had a productive discussion at conference committee that first included a verbal notice by WSNA that a petition for position realignment was forthcoming, in alignment with your contract. County leadership confirmed they are looking into it. We submitted the written petition to the County in August. We expect to discuss it at our October quarterly conference committee.

For reference:

14.3.3 Position Realignment. The Union may petition the County by September 1 of any year to be effective the following January 1st, for the realignment of positions that meet the conditions defined in this Section. No position shall be realigned more than once during the term of this Agreement. “Realignment” shall mean “change in wage range with no change in duties.”  For positions to be reviewed the petition must demonstrate at least four (4) matches of the bargaining unit position duties, method of compensation and qualifications to the same position duties, method of compensation, and qualifications in comparable counties or health districts and have an hourly wage that is under the average hour wage of the comparable counties’ or health districts positions by at least three 3% percent. Comparable counties or health districts are:  Benton, Cowlitz, Kitsap, Skagit, Thurston, Yakima. All comparable counties or health districts where matches exist must be used. Comparisons will be based on the top step hourly wage. Petitions, except those using AWC salary survey data, shall include position job descriptions and wage tables for the comparison counties used in the petition. Once the County determine the data submitted supports the petition that a position requires realignment, affected employees in the position will be placed in a new higher range (one range higher but not more than the top step of the new range or the top step of the top range) in their current step. The effective date of the realignment shall become the step increase date. 

We look forward to seeing you at our monthly WSNA meeting! See calendar invite from Kai to join in person at Girard (likely the conference room downstairs) or virtually on Teams. 

Join the meeting here on Thursday, September 3 at 10 am. You can join from your browser. No need to download the Teams application.

Meeting ID: 291 142 227 580 Passcode: EX7EX94n

Dial in by phone +1 206-485-2614,,803150190# - United States, Seattle

Questions about this email? Contact a local unit officer or your Nurse Representative Tara Barnes tbarnes@wsna.org

Link to your local unit webpage with contact information, your contract, and an archive of all local unit communications https://www.wsna.org/union/whatcom-county-health-department