We knew going into negotiations last December that the path to a first contract is rarely smooth, and we’ll likely hit bumps in the road before we get to our final destination and reach a full agreement. Though we’re well past the halfway mark, this week’s bargaining session was one of the bumpier ones to date.

WSNA came prepared with proposals on the following issues:

• Nursing residents’ rights to be part of the bargaining unit. We proposed giving residents the ability to become members without requiring it until they have a permanent staff nurse position, which would give them the opportunity to vote on our contract.
  
• Resource Nurse roles, including the competency requirements and wage scale placement related to the competencies. While Mares doesn’t have Resource Nurses right now, we’d like to leave the door open for hiring and using Resource Nurses in the future.
  
• Nurse seniority for full-time, part-time, and pool nurses. As we’ve explained in previous updates, seniority in our contract does not dictate your step placement or how quickly you’ll accrue PTO or other benefits; it just concerns how long you’ve been a registered nurse at Mares, and it serves as a tiebreaker if two nurses apply for the same job or request the same schedule. We proposed that FT and PT nurses would earn 80 hours of seniority per pay period regardless of their FTE and pool nurses would earn one hour of seniority for every hour they work.
  
• Preceptor definitions and what work will qualify for the preceptor premium. We proposed nurses earn this premium whenever they train nursing students, residents, or new hires who are delivering patient care but not accepting an independent patient assignment. We also proposed that nurses earn this premium when they’re responsible for directing or instructing a preceptee while they’re shadowing nurses for the day.
  
• SANE nursing. We want Mares nurses to have the option to train as a SANE nurse and accept voluntary SANE call shifts, and we proposed allowing qualified Mares nurses to perform a SANE exam and receive a premium at either Confluence hospital through that call program.
  
• Clear definitions for terms like “regular rate of pay”, “workday,” “overtime,” “breaks” and “holidays.”
  
• Treating mandatory scheduled staff meetings like any other scheduled work time. That means attendance would earn overtime rates when a nurse has worked over forty hours that week or beyond their scheduled shift that day. We also proposed that staff meetings not be counted as education time that counts against each nurse’s annual education leave hours.
  
• Course and certification card fees paid for by the employer. We proposed that management cover the cost of ACLS, ACLS EP, BLS HCP, ATCN, ENPC, PALS, TNCC, STABLE, NRP, AWHONN and PEARS Provider courses, BLS Instructor courses, and any other mandatory classes that incur a fee for instruction and/or certification.

The good updates from session 17:

• We agreed on a grievance procedure! The grievance procedure is a dispute resolution process you’ll find in many union contracts. It’s one of the biggest benefits of representation: if we think management violated the terms and conditions of employment in our contract, we’ll file a grievance over the violation to hold them accountable. The grievance process lets us explain how the contract was violated and what it will take for management to make things right. This is a huge win for our bargaining unit.  
  
• There was a group discussion between the bargaining teams, with the help of additional staff nurses from PACU and Rehab, to discuss several matters where we hadn’t been seeing eye to eye in our previous bargaining sessions. We got good news: management does not plan to open GI, OR, or PACU on the weekends at this time. We also had a productive conversation about helping PACU nurses get more consistent start and stop times for their regularly scheduled shifts. Leadership was able to provide workable solutions that the nurses were satisfied with, and we are working on drafting language that covers what we discussed.

The not-so-good updates from session 17:

• Our workgroup also discussed the 3rd floor’s concerns over potential changes to shift start times for the Medical/Surgical and Rehab units. Confluence refused to rule out changing the shift time to align with Central’s schedules. We have further work to do in this area and will continue to explain why this shift would not benefit patients, nurses or management at Mares.
  
• We didn’t receive any proposals from management this session.

Update on Respiratory Therapy:

We have heard your concerns over Confluence’s recent decision to remove respiratory therapy from your facility. We recognize that the loss of respiratory therapy impacts your working conditions, and we want to know how the employer will address this. One of the benefits of having union representation is our ability to request information from the employer. WSNA has sent an RFI (request for information) about this change so we know exactly what’s in the works and how it will impact you. Once we have that information we can address the change through bargaining.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, on wages, step placement and retirement that your team is fighting for.

Our next confirmed negotiating dates are September 9 and September 11.

Your team asks that you show your support by wearing your WSNA shirts on bargaining days. Let us know if you would like to observe bargaining sessions. We value your presence and input.

Mares Bargaining Unit Social Event and Bargaining Update 

August 8, 6-9 pm at Wenatchee Valley Brewing
Free dinner and non-alcoholic beverages

WE NEED YOUR VOICE!

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

Questions/Concerns Contact Laurie Robinson, WSNA Nurse Representative, 206-620-4136,  lrobinson@wsna.org.

For more information on how you can get involved contact Jenny Galassi, Nurse Organizer, 206-707-2948, jgalassi@wsna.org.