November 29, 2022

We completed a seventh day of bargaining and were sincerely hoping it would be our last day, and that we would be able to reach a deal on a new contract. Unfortunately, the Hospital was unwilling to make enough movement on wages for that to happen and negotiations will continue on.

We made what we determined to be very reasonable moves on wages today, making meaningful compromises in years 2 and 3 of the contract in particular. The Hospital also made some movement on wages, but we are still far apart. Both sides are committed to making significant increases to the middle of the wage scale, where Kadlec’s wages fall especially behind market. Today, WSNA’s researcher gave a presentation on the financial state of the Hospital and the Providence system overall. While Providence has had a difficult year in 2022, we believe it is in a strong position overall and can afford to give nurses healthy wage increases competitive with what other employers are paying.

WSNA’s wage proposal totaled about 23% over the course of three years for the average nurse, with nurses in the middle of the scale receiving increased proposals to bring them up to market, with Kadlec proposing about 16% over three years for the average nurse.

Your team also continues to push for retention bonuses that recognize and reward the loyalty of nurses who have stuck it out and worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to wages, we continue to be in disagreement with issues of key importance, such as finding solutions to prevent charge nurses from having to take full patient loads, an issue that many of you have raised as a serious concern that impacts patient safety. We also continue to push for solutions to disincentivize the Hospital from requiring nurses to engage in “in unit” floating (holding patients in unit based on the Employer’s inability to transfer the patient). We also continue to disagree over issues including PTO accrual and ability to cash out, premiums & differentials, and compensation for working excessive amounts of call. We also continue to push for the Hospital to agree to “union security” language which would cost the Hospital nothing but would allow nurses to have a stronger voice going forward.

We agreed to extend the contract, as well as the Extra Shift Incentive Bonus, through December.

We will be back at the bargaining table again on December 19, 2022. Please stay alert for actions in the near future to help us fight for a fair contract.

In Solidarity,
Meri Bukovinsky “Chair”-CDU
Jamie Woodall “Co-Chair” FSED
Vanessa Douglas “Secretary/Treasurer” ICU
Anita Dennis “Grievance Officer” PACU
Andrew Blake-Cath Lab
Kat Banks- PACU
Michelle Killebrew- CV Pre/Post
Kelsi Duncan-NICU
Ryan Rosenkranz WSNA Nurse Organizer
Laurie Robinson WSNA Nurse Representative
lrobinson@wsna.org