After two months, management is still radio silent on retirement. Are you ready for what’s next?
Posted Feb 14, 2025
Shout out to Sage Hills bakery for our breakfast treats!
Sage Hills kindly sent the bargaining team yummy treats to begin their day! We felt community support and started the day energized! Plus, they were dang good. 😊
We returned to the bargaining table today for our 26th negotiation session with Confluence. The plan was to meet with a Federal Mediator starting at 10am. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, that didn’t happen. Our team then proceeded as if this was a regular bargaining day. We met with Management this morning and presented our proposals.
We also gave Management our mock vote cards. Over 90% of the nurses at Mares said they would vote no on a contract that doesn’t provide Confluence Mares nurses the same retirement benefits as Central nurses. The team heard you and we stand strongly for a fair contract.
This afternoon a substitute federal mediator was able to join us at 1pm. Both teams met with him and shared their position on the proposals on the table.
Unfortunately, management still didn’t have a particularly productive day. By 1040am, all 28 open items in our negotiation were in their court. They responded to 10 by evening. Seven of those 10 had little to no movement. Several of the remaining 18 have been on their to-do list since we last met two months ago. They were radio silent on retirement and other economics.
Management took 5 hours to fight the same old fights. Five hours to tell us something they already told us. Five hours to show us they’re still not listening.
Your bargaining team, on the other hand, was hard at work while we waited for management’s response. We made plans for escalations over the coming weeks that will show our community what’s going on. Read on for more on what’s next and stay tuned for details on how to get involved as things escalate after our next session on 2/24.
Thank you, observers!
Mares Emergency Department nurse Gretchen Lindstrom and one of Central Campuses bargaining team members OR department Edie Perez brought their voice and positively impacted the team’s work. Observers are vital to the bargaining process and play a key role on our bargaining team. If you are not scheduled to work or out of town on Monday 2/24, please join us at our next bargaining session! Lunch provided.
If you can’t join us as an observer, be sure to wear blue on bargaining days in support and send a pic of nurses decked out in blue to Mares@wsna.org.
When: 2/24/2025
Where: Confluence Health Campbell Building, 609 Highline Dr, East Wenatchee, WA 98802
RSVP: Jenny Galassi, 206-707-2948
What’s next?
We continue to push forward, just as we have for 14 months at the bargaining table.
What we are hearing is that you are ready to do more. You are ready to stand in front of our community and hold Confluence accountable. We’re laying the groundwork for what that looks like. Over the next week and a half, we will be working hard planning out our next steps to get a fair contract so we can roll them out for you after our next session. We need every nurse at Mares to stand with us. Stay tuned!
Mark that calendar
Upcoming bargaining dates.
2/24/25 – 27th bargaining session
3/10/25 – 28th bargaining session
3/19/25 – 29th bargaining session
In Solidarity,
Your Bargaining team
Chris Gallup, OR, Co-Chair
Marshall Snoddy, OR, Co-Chair
Megan Baute, GI, Secretary
Caitlin Orange, GI, Treasurer
Mateo Maestas, OR, Grievance Officer
Rochelle Mason, ED, Membership Officer
Waikele Frantz, Rehab/ Medsurg, Unit Liaison
Laurie Robinson
WSNA Nurse Representative
Cell : 206-620-4136
lrobinson@wsna.org
Jenny Galassi
Nurse Organizer
Cell: 206-707-2948
jgalassi@wsna.org