Sip and Chat

November 7
6:30-10:30 am
Café Multipurpose Room

Come meet with Laurie Robinson, Nurse Represenative to discuss work place issues and answer your questions. Breakfast treats and coffee will be available.

Staffing

The staffing plans were voted and approved, except for OR, which has been moved to November.

The committee reviewed and voted to resolve 9 ADOs (Assignment Despite Objection). Decision letters will be sent to the nurses who submitted. There are 2 ADOs that will be reviewed in November.

Rest and Meal Breaks are being tracked. Please make sure you are documenting any missed rest and meal breaks with an ADO in addition to the employer’s process.

The Hospital Staffing Charter was approved and voted in June 2024.

Q and A

1. OR Response Time- Is there a difference in reponse time for general surgery vs. stat c-sections? There is no contract language that defines a difference. This would be based on policy unless we bargained this. Currently, there is no policy that illustrates a distiction. Therfore, no nurse should be disciplined, coached or counselled on reponse of 30 min. 
   
2. Can my manager post the schedule in the required time of 2 weeks before implementation as “pending”? No.
   
   9.7 Posting of Schedules. Time schedules and days off will be posted at least two (2) weeks in advance. After posting, the schedule may be changed by the Hospital only after consultation with the nurse scheduled. The schedule may be changed at the request of the nurse, only with the approval of the Assistant Administrator, Patient Care Services, or Department Director.
   
   
3. Do all nurses and the units they work fall under the rest between shifts language within the contract? Yes.
   
   9.9 Rest Between Shifts. In scheduling work assignments, the Employer will make a good faith effort to provide each nurse with at least ten (10) hours off duty between shifts. In the event a nurse is required to work with less than ten (10) hours off duty between shifts, all time worked until the nurse receives the required rest shall be paid at time and one-half (1 1/2x) the nurse’s regular rate (e.g., where a nurse works beyond his or her scheduled shift at the request of management and as a result, does not receive at least ten (10) hours off duty between shifts). For purposes of this Section 9.9, a nurse who attends a mandatory meeting or education day, the time and date over which the nurse has no control, shall be deemed an event that disrupts an otherwise unbroken rest period.
   
   This Section 9.9 shall not apply when a nurse requests a shift, or trades a shift with another nurse, to nurses receiving Standby (Section 6.2), or to Call Back (Section 6.3). However, if a nurse works in a callback capacity and is scheduled to return to work without the rest specified above, the Employer, if possible, will not require the nurse to work the scheduled shift or will send the nurse home as soon as possible. In either event, the Employer shall pay the nurse at his or her regular rate of pay for the entirety of the scheduled shift. Nothing in this paragraph shall relieve a nurse from the requirement to report to work unless otherwise notified by management.

Grievances

There are no grievances being worked on at this time.

Just Cause

Even the best nurses can make mistakes, which is why most union contracts include language protecting workers from discipline without just cause. That means your employer can’t discipline you for any reason; under your union contract, Confluence will need to prove they’ve met seven specific standards to demonstrate they have just cause for disciplining a nurse in our bargaining unit. Unless they prove they meet all seven standards, they would not have just cause for discipline and could not penalize a nurse under your contract.

Those seven standards are:

1.  Management must give employees fair notice of the rule they’re accused of violating. Management must show that you knew about a rule before they can discipline you for violating it. They might do this through mandatory trainings, classes during orientation, or by distributing a rule via email to all employees.
2. The rule must be reasonable. Management doesn’t have just cause for discipline if they’re enforcing an unreasonable rule, even if you knew the rule exists. If your manager is trying to enforce a rule that doesn’t make sense for your unit, it might not be a reasonable rule.
3. Management must have done a thorough investigation before imposing discipline. If management did only a partial investigation before disciplining you or if crucial evidence of a violation only turned up after you were disciplined, they did no complete a thorough investigation before disciplining you.
4. Management’s investigation must have been fair and objective. If your manager only talked to other managers or didn’t talk to everyone who witnessed the alleged violation, they have not completed a fair and objective investigation.
5. Management must have proof the violation actually occurred. If management disciplines you because they have a hunch you’ve violated a rule but no proof, they have not met the standard for just cause.
6. Management must have enforced the rule evenhandedly. If management has never enforced this rule before or imposed less serious penalties in the past, they have not met the standard for just cause. Likewise, if management is harder on some employees than others when it enforces this rule, it’s not applying the rule evenhandedly and does not have just cause.
7. The penalty must be proportionate to the violation. Management must take things like the seriousness of the rule they’re alleging you’ve violated and your length of service into account when it decides to impose discipline. If you’ve received a serious penalty for a minor violation or for your first offense after a long history as an employee in good standing, your employer may not have just cause for discipline.

Just cause protections are one of the biggest benefits of union representation, and by knowing how it works we can make best use of our rights under our first contract. For more on how to enforce your rights and help us get to the finish line on our first contract, reach out to one of your WSNA officers today!

KVH Officers

Kara Henderson, ED, Chair
Donna McCune, FBP, Co-Chair
Hanni Johnson, ED, Secretary
Erik Berkas, ED, Treasurer
Anji Bryant, SOP, Grievance Officer
Jordan Simon, ED, Membership Officer

Questions/Concerns Contact Laurie Robinson, Nurse Representative
206-620-4136,  lrobinson@wsna.org.

For more information on how you can get involved contact Jenny Galassi, Nurse Organizer
206-707-2948, jgalassi@wsna.org.

WSNA Membership

If you are not a WSNA member please consider completing a membership application today! Just click on the link!