Nurses at St. Joseph’s in Tacoma celebrating Juneteenth by taking action
They will be collecting signatures for hospital to recognize Juneteenth and to preserve nurse-centered Racial Justice Task Force
June 17, 2024 • 4 minutes to read
(Tukwila, June 17) -- Registered nurses at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Tacoma are celebrating Juneteenth by taking action.
Several nurses represented by the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) will be gathered outside the hospital from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 19 (corner of J Street and 17th St. in Tacoma). They will be handing out free ice cream to colleagues and encouraging them to sign a petition calling on the hospital to acknowledge Juneteenth as a paid holiday in their contract and to ensure that the Racial Justice Task Force remains a nurse-centered effort. (Note: The hospital also doesn’t recognize MLK Jr. Day, Indigenous People’s Day, or Veteran’s Day.)
The Racial Justice Task Force was a historic win for nurses in their last bargaining contract. But its future is uncertain.
In a May meeting of the Racial Justice Task Force, the Human Resources director said the hospital is obligated to run the Racial Justice Task Force until the end of the nurses’ contract, which is Oct. 31, 2024.
The hospital has already canceled a scheduled training to staff created by the task force.
The hospital is planning a corporate-wide initiative tentatively named the St. Joseph Medical Center Belonging and Unity Committee. The nurses fear that a corporate-led initiative will not be as effective as the current task force, which includes an online portal for nurses to report racial incidents and allows nurses to be part of training efforts. The current task force is comprised of 50 % nurses and 50% management. The hospital’s new committee will be chaired by hospital management and include an oversight committee, according to a memo from the hospital’s Human Resources Department. The number of hospital employees, including nurses, participating on the team has not been identified. The scope of the program will be defined and determined by the committee.
While nurses welcome all efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion, they feel bedside providers are among the ones on the frontlines of racial incidents by patient and should play a key role. They also want Virginia Mason Franciscan Health to back their stand on inclusion with action.
"Virginia Mason Franciscan Health needs to make tangible efforts to uphold racial justice in the community - not just advertise that they do,” said a nurse who signed the petition. “This means leadership from those who work directly with the people we serve so that we can get a firsthand account of experience and needs. Juneteenth has been a federal and state-recognized holiday for three years now—St. Joseph Medical Center needs to get with the times. It's just the beginning of the critical antiracist work that need to be done."
Nurses at St. Joseph’s are gathering signatures for Ketul J. Patel, chief executive officer of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, and president of the Northwest Region of CommonSpirit Health, the parent company of the hospital.
The petition reads as follows:
“We, the WSNA Nurses of St. Joes Tacoma, urge Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH) to honor its commitment to advancing health equity and adhere to the VMFH principles of inclusion and collaboration.
To ensure our patients receive community-centered care, we demand that management uphold and strengthen our Memorandum of Understanding regarding a Racial Justice Task Force, as established in our Collective Bargaining Agreement.
We call on management to commit to the following:
Ensure the Racial Justice Task Force remains a nurse-centered effort driven by bedside care providers, not a corporate initiative run by upper management.
Recognize holiday observances, like Juneteenth, that appropriately reflect the culture and values of the hospital workforce and the community it serves.
Our last contract created a historic Racial Justice Task Force, led by nurses and dedicated to developing solutions that promote equity in healthcare and racial justice within the St. Joseph’s community and its surrounding areas.
However, management is now threatening to sideline and weaken this taskforce by introducing a corporate initiative led by executives, not nurses. To counter this attempt and ensure that Juneteenth is addressed in our upcoming contract negotiations, we are launching a petition demanding that management:
Ensure the Racial Justice Task Force remains a nurse-centered effort driven by bedside care providers, not a corporate initiative run by upper management.
Recognize holiday observances, like Juneteenth, that appropriately reflect the culture and values of the hospital workforce and the community it serves."