We went in to negotiations yesterday hopeful that our vote of no confidence would have inspired MultiCare to show up at the table ready to listen to its nurses – instead, they decided not to meet with us, since the federal mediator had an emergency and wasn’t available. We were ready to go ahead and negotiate, but MultiCare decided not to show up.

We’re disappointed – it’s been almost two months without a contract, and staffing and breaks aren’t getting any better. This means that we’re ramping up: time to start getting ready for strike assessments.

What are Strike Assessments?

The decision to vote and authorize a strike is not one we take lightly. Because we want to make sure that this is a democratic decision made by WSNA members, we have conversations with nearly every member of the bargaining unit to assess their willingness to strike.

Strike Assessors have the important job of talking to their coworkers about a potential strike, assessing their willingness to participate, and reporting that information back to our bargaining team.

We will need lots of people to have these conversations with their coworkers. If you want to be trained as a Strike Assessor, we’ll be holding trainings on Wednesday and Thursday this week with more to come! These are virtual on teams, and will last about an hour.

5/24 at 8 a.m.
5/24 at noon
5/24 at 8 p.m.
5/25 at 8:30 p.m. (we will have a brief sip and chat, followed by strike assessor training. The link for this training is the same link as the sip and chat).

Fundraiser Flyering

On Saturday night, MultiCare hosted “corks and crush” – the annual event foundation fundraiser (tickets were 300 dollars each!).

A union strong group of nurses wanted to make sure the event attendees knew that their friend Bill Robertson inside had recently been the subject of a vote of no confidence where not one single nurse at Good Samaritan said they were confident in his ability to lead as CEO. We also wanted to make sure people attending knew that MultiCare was more interested in expanding the empire rather than paying attention to properly staffing the bedside nurses that keep MultiCare running, ensuring we have our legally required breaks, and keeping nurses local and, well, human. We handed out flyers for over an hour to the cars that drove in to the event – at one point, we saw a VERY angry Bill Robertson drive right past us!

If he isn’t willing to come and negotiate in good faith, we’re going to let our community know. Shoutout to Jerae, Peggy, Keith, Eric, and Atalia for pulling this off!

Sip and Chat

This week’s sip and chat will be a brief update, followed by a strike assessment training!

Next negotiations dates: 5/30, 5/31

Hopefully, the long holiday weekend will give management a chance to show up at the table with a willingness to bargain for a fair contract for our coworkers, patients, and community with a focus on quality patient care. Come observe to hold them accountable and keep our negotiations transparent! Contact organizer Grace at glamonte@wsna.org or 206-553-9794.

Stay connected on social media!

Follow us on Instagram @GSHnurses and on Facebook at Good Samaritan Nurses. If you would like to join the private, bargaining unit nurses Facebook group, please ask a unit rep or bargaining team member to add you. If you are already in our private Facebook group, reach out and invite a coworker who isn’t in it already!

Nurse Erica shared our story on her Instagram and TikTok to her followers – we’ve received hundreds of comments from nurses across the country encouraging us in our fight. Nurses at Seattle Childrens, St. Joes, and Tacoma General have been sending us messages of support as well as nurses in Eastern Washington from Kadlec and Astria Sunnyside This fight isn’t just for us: it’s for the nurses across the country who know that we deserve safe staffing and breaks and our patients deserve enough nurses who are rested and properly able to care for them!.

Nurse Erica on GSH Bargaining: https://fb.watch/kHXHqrViqd/

In solidarity, your bargaining team:
Mindy Thornton, Jared Richardson, Aaron Bradley, Raeli Korzeniecki, Dawn Morrell, Anne Landen, Ashley Eubanks, Atalia Lapkin, Erin Butler, and Paul Grantham

If you’d like to observe bargaining or want to know how you can get more involved with your union, contact Organizer Grace Lamonte GLamonte@wsna.org.

Questions/Issues, contact Janet Stewart, WSNA Nurse Representative jstewart@wsna.org.