We have a Tentative Agreement with significant wage improvements! Your bargaining team recommends a YES vote!

Bargaining unit meeting tonight, Friday, Dec. 9, to learn more about the contract from 2000-2130. Click here to join the meeting.

**Ratification Information – come vote on your contract!**

Ratification will be held on Wednesday, December 14 from 0530-0800 and 1730-2000 in the piano/day room on the second floor. All members in good standing can (and should!) vote. Bargaining team members will be there to explain the changes, as well as nurse representative Brenda Balogh (bbalogh@wsna.org) and our attorney-negotiator. We will have red-lined contracts available for you to see all changes made.

Tentative Agreement Highlights:

• We will now have a wage scale instead of a hiring grid! Before, we had a hiring grid with only 10 steps – management would hire new nurses and put them on that grid roughly based on their years of experience as an RN, but current RNs could be “leapfrogged,” and certainly weren’t paid based on their years of experience.

• • Now, we will have a wage scale up that goes up from base wage through Step 20. See below for the wage scale. All nurses will be placed on the step that matches their years of experience as an RN in January – this will result in an average wage increase of 9.75%.
  • If you have more than 20 years of experience, you will be placed at the maximum rate of $60/hour and receive an additional annual bonus based on years of experience and how many hours you worked (more on that below).
  • If you are not at 20 years of experience, you will move up the wage scale every year on your anniversary.
  • The scale will increase every year in July when across-the-board raises kick in (so, if you’re not at 20 years, you’ll receive a step increase on your anniversary and an additional increase each July).
  • Beginning January ’24, if you are between 20-24 years, you will receive a bonus of $1.25 times all hours worked in the previous calendar year. If you are between 25-29 years, you will receive a bonus of $2.00 for all hours worked in the previous calendar year. If you have 30 or more years, you will receive a bonus of $2.25 for all hours worked in the previous calendar year.
  • Everyone will be placed on the wage scale in January ’23. In July ’23, we will receive an across-the-board raise of 3%; in July ’24, an additional 2.5%; in July ’25, an additional 2.5%.
  • No new hire RN will “leapfrog” an existing RN with the same years of experience.
  • In sum, a wage scale is a huge victory for us, especially compared to the flat hiring grid which didn’t increase annually and allowed for wage inequities as nurses were not fairly compensated for years of experience, new hires were brought in at higher wages than current nurses, and there was no sense of fairness or equity. A wage scale places everyone according to their experience as an RN and allows us to see exactly what our wages will be through the end of the contract. While we fought hard for a scale that went up to 30 steps, we feel that this is a substantial win and that the bonus money – tiered to acknowledge seniority – is better than what the current system allows.

• We have a new preceptor differential! Any nurse assigned as a preceptor shall receive $1.25/hour for all hours and partial hours spent precepting employees, up to a maximum of 80 hours per preceptee.
• Improvements in Nursing Education, including CPR Certification at the Employer’s expense.
• Improved safety language, including risk reduction training provided so that nurses on all shifts can attend and will be paid for the time.

We didn’t win everything we wanted but we feel that this contract represents huge gains from our previous contract. More information will come out soon and will be provided at ratification.

Make sure to come vote at ratification on Dec. 14! Contact nurse rep Brenda Balogh at bbalogh@wsna.org with any questions.

In Unity,
The CHI Rehab WSNA bargaining team,
Jana Purdy RN
Anna Pyfrom RN