We had an amazing turnout for our vote of no confidence on Tuesday. Over half of the bargaining unit (377 nurses) voted unanimously that they do NOT have confidence in Bill Robertson’s ability to lead as MultiCare CEO. We hope that this message will finally be what it takes for Bill and the Good Sam management bargaining team to sit down and listen to the nurses about what we need to keep his facilities running.

Local news media that covered the event include the Tacoma News Tribune (we made the front page!), Kiro 7, The Stand, and The Stranger. In addition to that coverage, yesterday two billboards went up (they’re located on I-5 near Portland Avenue, both North and South facing) telling Bill something we’ve been saying this whole time: Safe Staffing Saves Lives. Our community is paying attention and stands behind us – but if this doesn’t get the message to Bill, we’re going to have to seriously ramp up.

Financial Literacy Lessons from MultiCare

Here are some facts about MultiCare’s own finances – we can’t wait to hear more fun financial facts at staffing committee when MultiCare tells us why our plan to safely staff the hospital is “too expensive”.

• MultiCare made $30 million in profit during the last financial quarter (January 1, 2023, to March 31, 2023).
• MultiCare has 214 days cash on hand, meaning that it has enough money to run all 12 of its hospitals if it had no more money coming in for 214 days without any service cutbacks and without selling any property. Congratulations, MultiCare! That’s a lot of money in reserve.
• MultiCare is currently executing an ambitious growth strategy across the state. It recently acquired Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital and it is in the process of building a new facility for Mary Bridge Hospital and a new patient care tower at Good Samaritan. It informed the Department of Health in publicly available documents and at the recent hearing that it has enough cash to pay for entire $404 million to build the Good Samaritan tower.
• At the April 28 public hearing for the new patient care tower, the MultiCare Good Samaritan CFO stated: “MultiCare is financially strong. MultiCare is rated A+ by Fitch and S&P. This strong rating enables us to have competitive interest rates in the municipal bond market.”

Strike FAQ:

Though we are not formally talking about taking any steps towards striking right now, we know a number of nurses are sufficiently frustrated with consistent under-staffing and the Hospital’s refusal to take our meal & break periods seriously that nurses are asking questions about striking. Ultimately, any nurse strike would be about protecting our patients, our profession, and our licenses; we don’t see MultiCare taking these issues seriously enough. We’re putting this out to answer your questions with accurate information about a strike – a strike is not something we take lightly but it is a critical tool nurse unions use when management dismisses our concerns about patient care. We’ve seen nurse strikes in New York and Minnesota result in dramatic improvements to staffing. Nurses are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to patient care. Keep ignoring us and those canaries will take whatever action is necessary to keep our patients, our licenses, and our consciences safe.

Sip and Chat Tonight:

Tonight at Sip and Chat, we’ll be talking about the vote of no confidence and what it means for bargaining on Monday and beyond. Join us on Teams at 8:00 here!

Bargaining on 5/22:

Our next bargaining session is on Monday, 5/22. We’ll see how management responded to our showing of unity – if it’s anything less than what our patients and coworkers deserve, we will continue to fight – and escalate our fight – for a fair contract. If you want to observe, contact organizer Grace. Observers are invited at noon, and sessions can go until later in the evening. You’re not obligated to stay for the whole session, but if you want to see how the sausage is made, come and see for yourself on Monday!

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.

We’re getting messages of support and solidarity from nurses across the county – people like Nurse Erica (@the.nurse.erica) and Sarah Warren (@shesinscrubs) have been sharing our content to their audience of over 100k followers! Our fight for safe staffing impacts our colleagues across the country – when we raise standards at Good Sam, we raise standards for everyone.

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.