Yesterday, we finished our 14^th bargaining session with management. Our picket and the DOH hearing certainly shifted their tone – but our fight isn’t over yet. We spent much of the day working on a new proposal on how to create a safe and effective workplace by improving staffing and ensuring everyone gets breaks. We took the 2023 state submitted Good Sam staffing matrices and supplemented the units that currently need them with a free charge nurse (or two, depending on the unit), free flex nurse(s), and adequate break coverage so we can do our jobs safely and receive real, uninterrupted meal and rest breaks.

Management said they’d be taking our proposal to senior/executive leadership. We are hoping that they will accept our proposal when we meet again on May 12.

• Nurses Week Breakfast
• Town Hall with Bill Robertson
• WSNA Shirts at Work

HAPPY NURSES WEEK
Kick off breakfast Monday, May 8, 6-9 a.m.

WSNA and your local team is happy to help kick off Nurse’s week Monday May 8th by sponsoring union breakfast in the Gordon Family Educational Center conference room from 0600-0900.

Meet some of your union team there and stop by to enter the raffle for two $75 Gift Cards to Figs Scrubs. To be part of this raffle you must physically enter. We will also have some WSNA swag.

Like last year, we will once again do random drawings for gift cards during the week as a thank you for being part of our hospital’s nursing team. All bargaining unit nurses will be entered and are eligible.

Hey Bill, it’s time for a town hall!

We have asked Good Sam many times over the course of our last 14 negotiations sessions for transparency and accountability in their decisions. They have responded with Jim Beatty holding a “coffee chat” that only one nurse was invited to, ignoring the hundreds of petition signatures we gave to Jim Beatty (well, to his very nice executive assistant), and starting to implement team nursing on units without properly going through the staffing committee. Often, we’ve been told that these are decision made at the corporate level.

This is unacceptable. We’re tired of being given vague and inconsistent responses that dodge our questions. We are demanding answers, and are now climbing the chain of command. We invited MultiCare CEO Bill Robertson to a town hall on Tuesday, May 9 because we want clear, direct answers to the questions we’ve been asking managers, directors and chief officers for months. If Bill Robertson refuses to attend this town hall or if we still don’t get satisfactory answers, we have no choice but to start preparing for a vote of no confidence.

A vote of no confidence is exactly what it sounds like – it’s a vote showing the majority of a group does not have the confidence in a person or group to effectively do their job. We are planning this vote for May 16 if we do not feel that MultiCare (either through Bill or at the bargaining table) is responding in good faith to the myriad issues we’ve raised about staffing, our concerns for our patients, and the historic failure to listen to us. Teaching us to be “resilient” after three years of critical under-staffing is nothing more than corporate gas-lighting. Enough with “listening tours;” we need properly staffed units and break nurses. We’re done.

More details to follow!

Good Sam Nurses Don’t Hold Back at DOH Hearing

Over 70 nurses participated in the Department of Health virtual hearing on Friday, April 28 and dozens commented, asked questions, and submitted written statements regarding MultiCare’s proposed 160 additional beds in a new tower. We were unanimous: East Pierce County desperately needs expanded health care access, but who will care for these patients when Good Sam can’t staff the existing hospital?

WSNA submitted a LETTER in which we wrote:

“WSNA would have liked to have enthusiastically supported this project. WSNA believes that communities of East Pierce County—including the nurses who work and receive care at Good Samaritan— would be served by expanded access to local health care. Unfortunately, based on the lived experience of our members, it is impossible to trust that MultiCare can provide a level of care that the community deserves until it begins to prioritize safe staffing. We encourage MultiCare to take real steps to improve working conditions at Good Samaritan immediately.”

WSNA Blue at Work

Nurses are being called in for Investigatory Meetings for wearing the WSNA T-Shirts at work, which may lead to discipline. Some managers are also telling people that they cannot wear their WSNA Badge Buddies –make sure to wear your MultiCare badge buddy as required, as well as your WSNA one beneath. Management is violating federal labor law by doing this, and WSNA has filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. In the meantime, if management asks you to remove your shirt and threatens you with discipline, comply (you may receive discipline for insubordination if you don’t). If you are called in for an investigatory meeting regarding T-shirts, notify Nurse Representative Janet Stewart (jstewart@wsna.org) immediately!

It's clear that MultiCare wants to wear us down – but we’re stronger than that. Stay united and keep being creative with showing your WSNA pride!

Next Bargaining Date: May 12

If you would like to come and observe our next bargaining session, please contact organizer Grace at glamonte@wsna.org or 206-553-9794. Expect to hunker down for a while – these sessions are long! Observers often come at noon, and sessions can go until late into the evening. Even if you can only come for an hour or two, your support is critical!

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; want to know how you can get more involved with your Union, contact Organizer Grace Lamonte GLamonte@wsna.org. Next bargaining date is May 12.

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