Happy Nurses Week Seattle Children’s Nurses!

We want to celebrate YOU! Please join us on May 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 am at the River 3 entrance. ANA and SCH will join your WSNA Local Unit Officers to meet with you and hand out ‘Swag Bags’ from ANA sponsors. This is a collaborative effort by the hospital and our national nursing organization. Leadership from both groups have expressed interest in having open dialogue and want to show genuine appreciation for the Children’s nurses. If you have any questions reach out to your officers. https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-childrens-hospital

• Notice of Officer Elections and Electronic Vote
• Local Unit Officer Candidate Statements
• New Contract Status/Contract Education Corner
• Case Managers Bargaining Update
• Children’s Bargaining Team WINS Adversity Award at Leadership
• Nurses Shift Change - Report For Duty Rally (May 7, 2026)

Following a WSNA Labor Executive Council (LEC) vote on April 25, local bargaining units are now authorized to hold officer elections electronically.

Here’s what you need to know: Everyone needs to vote again.

• We heard from several nurses that they never received their mail-in ballot. Because we want everyone to have the chance to participate, we will be going to an electronic vote.
• Voting will take place electronically via Election Buddy. You will receive a unique ballot link sent to your email at the start of the voting period. The voting dates will be from May 21 (starting at 8 am) to May 24 (ending at 8 am).
• Please ensure your email is up to date using this link:
  • https://www.wsna.org/membership/update-info
• A valid and updated email address is the only way to receive your ballot.
• When voting starts, please check your inbox as well as your spam or junk folder. Each link is individualized and can only be used once.
• To vote, you must be a member in good standing.

Officer elections determine who leads our local bargaining unit, represents us in interactions with SCH leadership, and partners with WSNA staff to make sure our nurses’ priorities and rights are upheld — your voice belongs in that conversation.

Learn about the candidates that are currently running for a Local Unit Officer position. Click on the link and read their statements.

We know you are anxiously awaiting a copy of the new and improved Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). It is under the final stage of review for accuracy and completeness. In the meantime, your CBA Redline is available via the link below.

What is Changing with Leaves?

There are three new things to know about Health Leave, Birth of a Child, and Welcoming Leave under the new contract or due to changes in state law.

1. Beginning in January of 2026, due to changes in state law, Seattle Children’s Hospital must maintain your health insurance benefits during the period of Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) if you apply and are eligible for PFML.
2. Under the new contract, you now have two opportunities to decide if you want to use your accrued leaves (annual leave and sick leave). You may decide at both the beginning of your leave when you are first going out on PFML and again when your PFML coverage is over. If you don’t have enough leave to cover both what you would need to supplement PFML and the other two-three months of leave following PFML or you don’t want to use as much leave, this allows you to save your accrued leaves during PFML and only use them in the time following PFML in order to continue to draw pay and maintain your health insurance benefits from Seattle Children’s.
   1. Keep in mind, there may be restrictions on what types of accrued leave you can use when. For example, it is our understanding that you can only use sick leave under the circumstances allowed by state law (briefly to care for yourself or a covered family member with a health need). Depending on the reason for your leave, this may mean that you may only be able to use accrued annual leave not sick leave in the period following PFML (for example if this is past the time when your provider has certified a medical necessity for your leave and you are in the family leave portion of your leave following birth of a child). If you are the non-birthing parent, you may only be able to use annual leave throughout the entire leave. If you are on a health leave, you may be able to use sick leave throughout the entire leave regardless of if you are still on PFML or not.
   2. Talk with your healthcare provider if you have questions about whether you qualify for a health leave or a different type of leave and reach out to your Unit Steward, Officers or Union Rep if you have questions about how your situation interacts with our contract.
3. During this contract fight, we protected the ability to use more than one type of leave in a rolling calendar year. For example, if you have two different triggers for leave, you are eligible to take any of the contract leaves more than once in a calendar year even if you are not eligible to take FMLA or PFML again yet. Examples of this might be having a baby and caring for a sick parent or breaking your ankle and welcoming a child into your family or having two babies all less than 12 months apart.

What Other New Leaves Are There?

1. On-the-Job Injury Leave – if you are injured at work, due to workplace violence or any other reason, you will be paid until the end of your shift even if you need to leave to receive care.
2. Workplace Violence Leave – If you are the victim of workplace violence and you experience a physical assault that results in a physical, mental or moral injury, you are entitled to two shifts of paid administrative leave. These shifts must be in the two days immediately following the date of injury and can only be used if you were scheduled to work those shifts.
3. Death of an Assigned Patient Leave – If you are the primary nurse caring for a patient who dies during your shift, the hospital will make every effort to allow you to take the remainder of the shift off if you want. You may use accrued leaves to do so or choose to go unpaid.
4. Post-Shift Fatigue Leave – A nurse who is too tired to work their following shift due to either having worked more than 16 hours in a row or due to working call in between shifts that led to less than 8 hours of rest between shifts may request to take off some or all of the following shift, and the hospital will make every reasonable effort to allow this. You may use accrued leaves or choose to go unpaid. (ex. Post shift call in the OR leads you to work until midnight on a case in progress when you are scheduled to work the next morning at 0700, coming in between two 12-hour shifts 0700-1930 to work call from 0100-0300 to complete an emergent case, or staying over to work a double shift when you are back the following shift).

For all of these new leaves, it also will not count as an attendance occurrence if you utilize them.

A Few Reminders About Accommodations

1. Reasonable accommodations must be allowed, so long as they do not cause an undue hardship for the employer.
2. The Accommodation process is an interactive collaborative process and “reasonable” is defined as the employee and the employer work together to figure out how to best meet the needs of both parties.
3. You may have a Union Rep or Steward present at meetings scheduled to discuss reasonable accommodations.
4. If your accommodation request is denied, you may appeal, and you should notify the union if this happens.

A Few Notes About Break Nurses

1. We made major changes to the inpatient and procedural area staffing plans in 2026.
2. The number of nurses listed at each patient census are now the number of nurses that you must keep on the floor at all times, even during rest and meal breaks, to provide safe patient care.
3. In areas that are split between several geographic locations, the nurses that would be expected to respond to an emergency in your area and the number of patients in that area should be used to determine the safe number of nurses you must maintain at all times.
4. If it would not be possible to send every nurse on all of their legally required rest and meal breaks using a scheduled and staggered break system while still maintaining the number of nurses you are required to have according to your staffing plan to care for the number of patients in your area, you need additional resource(s) (e.g. break nurse(s)) to make sure everyone is able to take all their breaks.
5. Please look up the staffing plan for your area to determine how many nurses can be off the floor on break at any one time and utilize the correct number of resources needed to make that happen. Fill out ADOs if you are going out of compliance with your staffing plan when sending nurses on their rest and meal breaks.

Many of you have asked why you are receiving bargaining updates about the Case Managers. The response is threefold: they are now in the bargaining unit 💙, they are bargaining issues that could impact WSNA Nurses, the entire bargaining unit will vote on the Case Managers Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Additionally, they may need the support of the bargaining unit nurses to get to the finish line (a TA).

Bargaining the new CBA was contentious and led to very strained relationships between the Children’s Nurses and Management/Leadership. Following bargaining, SCH Leadership committed to working with the nurses to repair those relationships and rebuild trust. Unfortunately, it appears that the SCH Leadership at the bargaining table for the Case Managers is starting to engage in similar behaviors.

On April 30, the Case Managers’ bargaining team met with the Hospital for their sixth bargaining session. The Hospital has communicated a desire to get these negotiations wrapped up as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the employer did not move in their direction in any meaningful way. The next bargaining session is on Thursday, May 7. We will see how motivated the employer is to get a tentative agreement. More to come…

Congratulations to the Children’s Bargaining Team for winning the WSNA Adversity Award! The level of fight and advocacy by this Team was felt locally and nationally. It resulted in a Contract that will not only benefit the Children’s Nurses, but nurses throughout the area and far beyond.

Date and Time - May 7, 2026 06 AM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Nurses SHIFT Change is a nurse-led grassroots movement mobilizing healthcare professionals, allies, and activists across the nation. Born from the urgency of political, social, and healthcare crises, we believe nurses, the largest and most trusted profession, must lead the call for bold, systemic change.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Nurses Shift Change - Report For Duty Rally. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Questions? Contact your Local Unit Officers or WSNA Nurse Representative, Linda Burbank, at lburbank@wsna.org or via telephone at (206) 575-7979.