Your bargaining team is thrilled to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement, after 13 hours at the table today with Providence Kadlec, that saves our current PTO and secures stronger staffing language and safety against workplace violence.

Fourteen months ago, when Providence Kadlec came to the table with proposals to slash PTO, we wouldn’t have thought this TA was possible. Our Kadlec nurses made this happen. Our rallies and picketing, our vote to authorize a strike, our work with Providence health care employee unions across the state—they all made the difference.

Here are some of the key wins in this tentative contract agreement:

• Maintains current total PTO accruals and total PTO caps for ALL current WSNA nurses (including 0.45FTE).
• Maintains all existing EIB accruals and allows them to be used for all purposes currently allowed, as well as for topping off to 100% of regular wages for short term disability or Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit.
• Secures Short-Term Disability benefit to be maintained at a minimum of 65% and allows employee’s choice to use PTO or EIB to top off 100% of regular wages for STD.
• Enhanced staffing language mandates that changes to the staffing plan be discussed with the staffing committee before implementation and allows a WSNA staff representative to attend staffing committee meetings.
• Recognizes nurses’ discretion to remove themselves from a patient who they believe presents an immediate risk of violence and work with manager to develop a plan to assure nurse safety and appropriate safe patient care.
• Total wage increase of 10% over the life of this contract – 3% effective 12/27/2019, 2.5% Jan 1, 2020, 2% Jan 1, 2021, 2.5% Jan 1, 2022 with expiration on Oct. 31, 2022.
• Ratification bonus of $1500 for 0.9-1.0FTE, prorated below 0.9FTE and $250 for per diems.

Additional TAs:

• Medical plan increases up to 10% blended rate for 2019, 2020, 2021.
• Maintain same low census language as previous contracts.
• Nurses hired at 0.5FTE or above following ratification would move to the new proposed PTO plan.
• Nurses employed at ratification may choose to migrate to the new proposed PTO plan within 45 days of ratification

We will have more information for you in the coming days, including dates for contract ratification voting.

Thank you from your bargaining team for all of the energy, support and action you have put into this contract campaign.

Your Bargaining team: Jacob Garcia (CDU), Martha Galvez (Birth Center), Vanessa Douglas (ICU), Kathy Peot (Resource), Marianne Sturtevant (OR), Meri Bukovinsky (CDU), Joyce McMurphy (NICU)