You’ve asked us what management proposed on Wednesday…

The answer is complicated by design: they waited until our seventh session to propose a complicated, lengthy economic package that hides significant changes in the contract under the guise of making life better for nurses. Here’s what it really does:

• Separates Clinic RNs, Home and Community RNs, and Inpatient RNs into three separate groups.
• Staggers first year increases to divide the bargaining unit even further:
  • Clinic RNs would receive a $1.50 raise the first year of the contract.
  • Home and Community RNs would receive a 3% raise the first year of the contract.
  • Inpatient RNs at Step 10 or lower would receive a $1/hour raise plus 3%. Inpatient RNs at Step 11 or higher would receive a 4% raise.
• Extends our contract for an additional year, with the following wage rates each March:
  • March 1, 2025: 3% increase
  • March 1, 2026: 3% increase
  • March 1, 2027: 2.5% increase. [Note: management proposed extending our contract for a fourth year rather than bargaining for a new contract in 2027.]
  • No new contract until June 30, 2028.
• Under management’s proposal, most RNs would make less in 2028 at PHSW than they would at OHSU in 2024  

 
Management also proposed:

• Removing all nurse practitioners from the bargaining unit.
• Separating Home and Community RNs and Clinic RNs from the rest of the Inpatient RNs on the wage scale.
• Denying Hospice RNs any access to overtime.
• Eliminating nurses’ EIB benefits less than six months after making a deal with us to permit EIB use when you have COVID.
• Shifting the start and end date of our agreement to make it more convenient for their accounting teams.

 
Here are other things management refused to do in its proposal from Wednesday:

• Commit to meeting the minimum ratios RNs in Oregon will see in their facilities starting this June by default.
• Apply any portion of the contract retroactively, despite their failure to make a single economic proposal before our seventh scheduled session
• Permit ARNPs to be part of the bargaining unit
• Cap hours of mandatory low census
• Acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, both of which are now federal holidays.
• Fairly compensate nurses whose units are closed on holidays
• Reimburse nurses for the cost of one COVID test per scheduled shift
• Provide an annual N95 fitting for each RN
• Guarantee access to required PPE at no cost

Accommodate nurses with bona fide religious or medical exemptions by allowing them to adapt their assignment and/or use appropriate PPE to stay on the job

• Accept email requests for paid education time
• Meet with nurses to discuss denied requests for education leave
• Clarify requirements for education reimbursement

Honor the time increments for paid sick leave as required by Washington law.

Over 100 of you showed up for our petition delivery today! Management heard your demand for a fair contract but will they listen?

“Sip and Chat” updates are here! While we are in negotiations, bargaining team members will be hosting informal union meetings with WSNA members. “Sip and Chats” will occur every Tuesday from 1800-1930 while we are in negotiations. Click the link above to join via Microsoft Teams or call in (206) 485-2614; Passcode: 864004705# to join.

WSNA is requesting that EVERY NURSE wear a “I Support My Bargaining Team" sticker on negotiation days. Please contact a member of the bargaining team or WSNA Organizer Sam Scholl for a sticker.

Send us your pictures or share on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/phsw_nurses/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D.

Please follow “Vancouver RN’s Care for US” on Facebook.

Be an activist. Contact our Organizer Sammy Scholl for more ways to be involved. Cell: 425-606-7036, sscholl@wsna.org.

February 26 is our last bargaining session before the contract expires! To observe the bargaining session on February 26, 2024. Email sscholl@wsna.org to RSVP.

Yard Signs and Car Signs are here! Contact organizer Sammy or a member of the bargaining team for a sign!

Become a member, make our voice Stronger! https://www.wsna.org/membership/application

Contact membership@wsna.org if you are not getting emails from WSNA. Also, please remember to check your junk mail!

Want to join us for the full bargaining day? Contact our WSNA Nurse Organizer, Sammy, at sscholl@wsna.org to get all the details.

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining Team
WSNA Co-Chair Didi Gray, Family Birth; WSNA Co-Chair Dawn Marick, Resource team; Secretary/Treasurer Duncan Camacho, ICU; Grievance Officer Erin Irwin, CVICU; Member at Large Talitha Wilson, ED; Dillon LeSieur, RRT/Critical Care; Dustin Weddle, ED; Jeryl Anderson, Case Management; Brooke Churchman, Home Hospice; Samantha Golden, IMCU; Joan Ngarachu, PACU; Toutu Rekucki, Cardiology

Please contact WSNA Nurse Rep Travis Elmore Nelson at telmore@wsna.org or 206-575-7979 ext. 3117 with questions or to find out what you can do to get a fair contract.