This morning, our Union passed an ambitious economic package proposal that would raise nurse wages to be on par with other West Coast Seattle Children’s Hospitals within two years.

Seattle Children’s prides itself on being among the top children’s hospitals in the nation, which it is because of nurses like YOU.  Nurses at Seattle Children’s provide high-quality, specialized pediatric care but get paid between 10% and 40% less than our peers in Oregon, California, and Washington.  These sub-market wages devalue caregiving work and perpetuate systemic occupational gender segregation. (The SCH nursing workforce reports as 91% female identifying.)

Our bargaining team told SCH that its nurses should be able to afford to live where they work, should be compensated fairly for their highly skilled labor, and should not be disciplined for calling out sick.

WSNA’s wage proposal would:

• Give every single nurse in this bargaining unit a meaningful raise
• Add $20 per hour to the current base wage over the life of the contract
• Get nurses more money earlier in their career by condensing the wage scale and eliminating ghost steps
• Provide cost of living adjustments in line with the Seattle market

This comprehensive economic proposal would also:

• Dramatically increase the differentials for night, evening, weekend, and on call work and make them percentage-based
• Establish or increase premiums for RISK, floating outside clinical groups, multi-campus floating, critical care transport, advanced care, ECMO, language certification, PBMU, and Behavioral Support Team
• Raise pay for leadership roles like charge and ACE nurses
• More than double sick leave accruals
• Maintain health and other benefits during family and medical leave, birth of a child, welcoming leave, and other leaves
• Enhance other leave benefits, including
  • access to other leave banks when nurses are sick or injured or experience post-shift fatigue
  • bereavement leave if a nurse experiences a miscarriage or is providing care for a patient who dies while that nurse is on duty
• Provide per diem nurses with parity in recognition for prior experience, sick leave, and annual leave
• Expand contract rights for nurses who elect wage premium in lieu of benefits
• Improve parking benefits for shuttle-takers, raise the commute bonus, and provide paid Orca monthly passes
• Add 40 hours of sick leave for nurses who worked for SCH during COVID and are still here

Today’s proposals were on top of other important economic asks we’ve already made at the table, including break relief nurses throughout the hospital, pay if you need time off due to workplace violence, increased security on site, and pay for mandatory low census.

 In making this ambitious proposal, our Union asked Seattle Children’s for:

• Fair and competitive wages in line with major West Coast Children’s Hospitals
• Commitment to pay equity and structural justice to correct systemic undervaluation of women’s labor
• Adequate rest and time off to avoid burnout and fatigue
• Recruitment and retention of quality nurses, especially in hard-to-fill or high-risk roles.

If you’re interested in the presentation we made today at the table, click here.

A huge 'thank you' to the NICU for providing a delicious lunch for the team!

Like what you’re reading?  The Union is STRONGER TOGETHER!  Sign the petition, wear blue on Wednesdays, show up to the tailgates and sip-and-chats.

August 8 – Virtual Sip n Chat 7 – 8:30 am

Microsoft Teams 
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Meeting ID: 229 045 072 183 5
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+1 206-485-2614,,66739191# United States, Seattle
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Phone conference ID: 667 391 91#

August 11 – Virtual Sip n Chat 7 – 8:30 pm and Tailgate Party

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Meeting ID: 296 837 474 461 4
Dial in by phone
+1 206-485-2614,,387929472# United States, Seattle
(888) 313-0615,,387929472# United States (Toll-free)
Find a local number
Phone conference ID: 387 929 472#

Petition. Petition. Petition.

The number one way you can help us get to a fair contract is by signing our petition. Please reach out to anyone on our bargaining team to get signed up or email our WSNA Organizer Crystal Doll at cdoll@wsna.org.

Did you know?

Every one of our WSNA text messages is individually sent to you by one of our bargaining team members or our Organizer Crystal Doll! No robots here… just human to human connection. Next time you get a text message from WSNA, feel free to say hi back!

Observer Spotlight

Jean Dearn, SCH Urology Clinic

I had the privilege to observe the negotiation team all day, July 22 at the WSNA office in Tukwila. I have worked at SCH 33 years, my first 10 years on the Surgical Unit (aka “B4”), and now, the Urology Clinic for the past 32 years. Yikes!
This is a summary of my time watching and listening to our negotiating team in action, doing their best work all day long:

• Each negotiating team member is passionate about the nursing role and the care that we are privileged to provide.
• There is balanced representation of the various nursing workplace conditions that deserve attention and change during this contract negotiation.
• The negotiation team is donating an enormous amount of their personal time to advocate for every fellow SCH RN.
• I am keenly aware the this year’s negotiating team and WSNA representatives care about every one of us and are professionally and passionately advocating on behalf of the bargaining unit ( all 2000+ Children’s Hospital nurses!).

If you see a WSNA negotiating team member at work, please give them a smile and a thanks!

In solidarity,
Our Bargaining Team
Annika Hoogestraat, Kara Yates, Lindsey Kirsch, Sam Forte, Katie Podobnik, Therese Hill, Kelsey Gellner, AJ Nagal, Emma Gordon, Sarah Munro, Cody Ian, Lauren Lustyk, Regan Halom, Jon McAferty, Anna Marie Fountain and Bree Casas

Do not hesitate to contact any of our officers if you have questions. All of our contacts are on our WSNA website. https://www.wsna.org/union/seattle-childrens-hospital. Also, utilizing our Instagram @sch_wsna offers quick updates and opportunities for DMs.

Feel free to reach out to your WSNA Nurse Rep Linda Burbank at lburbank@wsna.org if needed.