We had an amazing picket yesterday – hundreds of Good Sam nurses showed up on their day off, came out on breaks, and rallied for patient safety. Community members and other union members supported our efforts and joined us in making it clear that Good Samaritan is – in the words of bargaining team member Atalia Lapkin – worth defending.

We made a lot of noise which could be heard in the hospital lobby and in the Emergency Department tent. We showed great spirit and unity marching outside of the hospital, up and down 15th Street, and down on Meridian. We have been loud and clear with management that nurses are willing to stand strong for patient safety – our fight is not over until MultiCare has addressed staffing issues and breaks.

We will be back at the bargaining table on May 4 and 12 with management and the mediator. If you would like to observe these sessions, please reach out to Grace, glamonte@wsna.org.

Department of Health Hearing Friday April 28 at 1:30

All are encouraged to join the Virtual DOH Hearing regarding the new tower expansion which will create 160 new beds. WSNA acknowledges the need for more hospital beds in the East Pierce County area. We have questions and concerns about how MultiCare plans to staff the new tower when we are currently extremely short staffed. We are concerned that MultiCare’s ambitions are creating undue and unsafe demands for the nurses, which leads to unsafe conditions for our patients and our community.

We have received written testimony from nurses across every shift and unit expressing their concerns about the tower expansion. These will be submitted to the Department of Health, along with spoken testimony at tomorrow’s hearing. The hearing is entirely virtual, and will start at 1:30 tomorrow. If you would like to attend the hearing, you can register and receive the link for the hearing below. If you would like to speak at the hearing, please contact glamonte@wsna.org.

WSNA T-Shirts at Work

Nurses are being called in for Investigatory Meetings for wearing the WSNA T-Shirts at work, which may lead to discipline. 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 and let Nurse Representative Janet Stewart (jstewart@wsna.org) know immediately!

They cannot break our spirit. You can continue to show your unity and support by wearing other Blue shirts or blue scrubs and by wearing your buttons, stickers and WSNA badge pulls.

Sip and Chat tonight!

We’ll have a sip and chat tonight to answer your questions about the hearing and talk more about our next steps.

Follow us on Social Media!

You can share our Facebook picket event at https://fb.me/e/3C6nlyrZ2.

Follow us on Instagram @GSHnurses, and on our Facebook page at Good Samaritan Nurses. To join the private Facebook group for RNs, ask your unit rep or a bargaining team member to add you.

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 4.

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