We had our second bargaining session with Whatcom County on Nov. 4.

Your team has appreciated the continued collaboration with the employer on a transition to a different health insurance plan, the Teamster’s Welfare Trust. We believe this will be cost effective and of good quality. Based on the priorities identified with your responses to the pre-negotiation survey, we are maintaining our focus on what will be beneficial for every nurse in the bargaining unit. This includes ensuring our part-time nurses will also have affordable and accessible benefits for the life of the contract. Stay tuned for updates.

Given the open enrollment period for health benefits occurs prior to our current contract expiration on December 31, we are working out the procedural details to provide a pathway to achieve this in a timely manner.

We were able to make several tentative agreements (TAs) on individual articles:

• 2.10 improved language on providing public information requests regarding terms for proper notice.
• 4.6 improved language to clarify terms of emergency call backs.
• 4.8 improved language with absence due to inclement weather that clarifies the terms to approve remote work.
• 6.4.1 vacation cashout by mutual agreement
• 14.4.1 improved language regarding eligibility for nurses who are required to cross the Canadian border for work.

We had productive discussions about wages today. The employer made an initial proposal on across the board wages for each year of the contract. We continue to review this. We are preparing a response that also addresses improvements to aspects of the wage scale characteristics.

We continue to have discussions about how to work toward TAs in the following areas:

• Clarification of terms to align the contract with current regulatory code of Washington (RCW’s) for sick leave and PFML.
• Bereavement leave language in article 9.
• 11.3.4 On call premium as a new contract provision
• 13.1 Higher classification: When an employee is assigned by the department head or designee to a higher level of duties of a higher paid classification and performs without supervision for vacation, or other leave coverage, or backfilling a position purpose…they shall receive a premium.
• Identification of a clear process by which nurses may transition from PHN to PHN 2 status.

In the interim, team members may reach out to talk with you about your concerns and how you feel about some of the ideas we’re considering. The Whatcom nurse’s engagement is a vital part of our bargaining strategy to gain an agreement that achieves the best for the nurses and truly reflects your priorities. Do not hesitate to contact a team member or your Nurse Representative with questions.

We return to the bargaining table on November 17 and 19.

Our calls to action:

• Contact Nicole, Kai, Julie or Lela for a WSNA T-shirt, support stickers for your team or other WSNA swag. Currently, they are kept in Kai’s office at Girard. This is a fun and easy way to show solidarity with each other and your bargaining team 😊.
• Take a selfie or group pic with your WSNA peers and send it to a team member or Nurse Rep Tara tbarnes@wsna.org  Thank you to the nurses who sent us your pictures together, let’s keep it going!
• Read all WSNA communications to stay current with progress as we continue to negotiate your union contract for 2026-2028. Here is a link to your WSNA webpage https://www.wsna.org/union/whatcom-county-health-department
• Not a member yet? No problem. Join today. This supports your team’s efforts to negotiate from a position of strength and unity. Choose the UNION member option https://www.wsna.org/membership/application

In unity,

Your bargaining team:

Nicole Miller nicolemiller.tupperware@gmail.com
Kai Rapaport kainui98@gmail.com
Lela Riherd lela132001@yahoo.com
Julie McElroy rnjuliemcelroy@gmail.com

Tara Barnes Nurse Representative tbarnes@wsna.org