Your bargaining team recommends a yes vote on this contract.

The new contract will not include incentive pay in any form! WSNA nurses at Island Hospital have clearly stated that we will not sacrifice our ethical standards or professional integrity by tying our wages to Press-Ganey or HCAP scores.

This round of negotiations was marked by the hospital’s poor financial condition and the employer’s aggressive attempts to undermine existing contract language. Your bargaining team spent many dozens of hours, including 12 bargaining sessions (4 with a state mediator), pushing back on the hospital’s attempts to lower the working standards for nurses. The team is confident that the tentative agreement represents the best deal available to WSNA nurses at Island.

Compensation

• Ratification bonuses – Upon ratification of the agreement, nurses will receive a bonus of $500 pro-rated by FTE (per diem nurses will be treated as a 0.2 FTE). Effective the first payroll following 11/1/18, nurses will receive an additional bonus of $500 pro-rated by FTE. You must be employed at Island at the time of the bonus payout to receive the bonus.
• Effective on the first payroll following ratification, the hospital will transition to a new step system with more uniformed movement between the steps. The transition to the new step system is an average increase in compensation of 1.8%.
• 11/1/18 – increase the wage scale by 0.5%.
• 11/1/19 – increase the wage scale by 0.5%.
• No Incentive Pay!

PTO/EIB/Holiday

• The bargaining team preserved nurses’ ability to plan vacations by preserving current contract language allowing a nurse to schedule a vacation as far in advance as possible.
• The PTO accrual cap will be reduced from 2 year’s accrual to 1 year’s accrual. The hospital will notify nurses affected by this change. Affected nurses will have 12 months to either use accrued PTO above the 1 year cap or cash it out. The hospital has committed to working with affected nurses to ensure you will be able to schedule PTO time during the 12 month period.
• The EIB accrual cap will be reduced from 720 hours to 520 hours. Nurses who have more than 520 hours will not lose any time. However, you will not earn any new time until accruals fall below 520 hours.
• The bargaining team preserved the current language allowing nurses to opt out of using PTO time when your department closes on a day you were scheduled to work in observance of a holiday.

Shift Differential

Effective 1/1/19, nurses in departments operating Monday – Friday will no longer be eligible for the shift differential. WSNA will withdraw its pending grievance. In consideration, nurses who work in Oncology will receive a bonus of $750 pro-rated by FTE on the first pay period following 1/1/19.

Callback hours Callback hours will not be considered part of a continuation of the normal work day shift and WSNA will withdraw its pending grievance. The bargaining team fought this move to the very end and agreed to this compromise only when advised by both the attorney and the mediator that the Association’s chances of winning the grievance were poor. The bargaining team was able to win a larger ratification bonus for all Island nurses in consideration for this move.

Additional contract changes

• Per diem nurses will advance to the next step of the wage scale after 24 months – regardless of the number of hours worked.
• The hospital will publish a draft schedule by the 5^th day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the schedule becomes effective. Nurses must make requests for days off or extra shifts by the 1^st day of the preceding month. Per diem nurses must submit their availability by the 10^th day of the preceding month.
• The hospital must notify WSNA of all disciplines imposed.
• Nurses will have the right to request removal of any discipline in your personnel file if there has been no reoccurrence of the problem for 3 years. The new contract strengthens the voice of nurses at Island by enabling all 5 of your local unit officers to participate in the Conference Committee.

Your bargaining team recommends a yes vote on this contract.

Please plan to cast your ballot on May 9, 2018

Where: Cypress Room

When: 7-9 a.m. and 2:30-7 p.m.

For questions, please contact Sue O’Donnell, WSNA Nurse Representative, at 206-575-7979, ext. 3045 or sodonnell@wsna.org.