In this email, we, the WSNA Negotiation team, are updating you about what actually happened at our last bargaining session and are reaching out to you about the email sent last Friday by Evergreen titled “WSNA Bargaining Update: Session Five.” We want you all to be clear on a few points they mentioned:

What Evergreen proposed on wages: Evergreen’s email claims they offered “wage increases over four years, averaging more than 23% for nurses eligible for annual step increases.” What Evergreen actually offered is this: a 3.5% increase upon ratification of the contract, a 3% increase effective November 1, 2025, a 3% increase effective November 1, 2026, and a 3% increase effective November 1, 2027. That amounts to a total increase of 12.5% trickling out over a four year period.

Evergreen got to their 23% number purportedly by including average step increases that already are in place in the current contract, which Evergreen calculates to amount to an average of 2.8% each year.  While Evergreen told us at the table that this was their methodology, we are not clear how they got to that. Our math reveals that, each year nurses would get only an average 2% step increase. Many nurses receive no step increase or a less than a 2% step increase.

Evergreen’s proposal keeps “ghost steps” in the contract – those years of service (of which there are eight) where a nurse receives no step increase.

What WSNA proposed on wages: At our second bargaining session on October 1, 2024, the Union proposed wages in the first year of the contract to get you to market nurse wages, which we consider to be nurses at Overlake, Virginia Mason, Swedish, and Seattle Children’s. To do that, we proposed to eliminate ghost steps so that each nurse would get an increase each year. We also proposed a $2 increase plus a 10% increase at each step, with 7% increases in years two and three, for a three-year contract.

Evergreen’s Friday email also included a description of other proposals, which are in fact counterproposals in response to WSNA’s proposals made before Evergreen’s. WSNA’s previous proposals are more beneficial than Evergreen’s and would:

• Increase night shift dif to $5.50/hour, with a $1.50 longevity night shift premium
• Provide for break relief nurses in addition to the staffing ratios/matrix for all units and all shifts
• Strengthen the floating language in our contract

Our previous proposals also included changes to address a dependability policy that we feel encourages you to come to work sick and punishes you for using accrued sick time. We proposed to increase our vacation accrual and policies to increase the ability of nurses to take time off from work. In response, management copied and pasted the much less favorable PTO/EIB language from another contract and submitted it as their proposal for WSNA nurses. We want all of you to be very clear that PTO/EIB is a system that benefits the employer in the long run because it requires employees to choose between using their PTO for sick calls or vacation, as EIB is not immediately available. The PTO/EIB proposal is especially problematic for employees responsible for the care of children, parents, or spouses, who may end up using most of their PTO time as sick time.

What Evergreen did not say about its proposal in its Friday email is that it seeks to limit the rights of resident nurses, only provides year for year service credit for step increases starting years from now, in 2027 (and only going forward), seeks to limit the ability of 12-hour nurses to take a second lunch, and seeks to eliminate the contractual incentive pay, as well as other takeaways.

This session was ws a challenging one. We were shocked by the number of takeaways the Employer proposed, while at the same time providing either no response or outright rejection of the majority of our proposals. The Union plans to present counter proposals at our next session on November 11.
We will continue to work hard to represent all of you at the table, but we need your help right now.

Management must see and hear that we are committed to fighting for what the nurses at Evergreen need. This contract is not just about our individual needs but about ensuring we can provide safe and excellent patient care while also caring for ourselves and our families. Your commitment to this process is vital.

In solidarity,
Your bargaining team,
Theresa Blazer, Alicia O’Neall, Nikki Paulson, Sandy Gott, Ryan O’Neill Hawkins, Carol Flaming, Jaclyn Miller, Karen Lasota, Lexi Overa

Questions? Contact your WSNA Officers at localofficers@eh-nurses.com.

Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Bret Percival at bpercival@wsna.org.