UWMC NW Leadership wants to end the 3-hour minimum for standby directly after a regularly scheduled shift.

WSNA has been in ongoing discussions with UWMC NW Leadership about their recently unveiled desire to stop paying the 3-hour standby minimum when an RN works through a regularly scheduled shift and into a standby shift for an hour or two. UWMC Leadership wants to consider this hour or two an “extension of the regularly scheduled shift” and not part of a standby shift and therefore not subject to hourly standby pay or the 3-hour minimum.

WSNA has pushed back on this as we believe RNs have been and should continue to be eligible for all premiums associated with standby once your first shift is done and an RN continues to work into the designated standby shift.

Now, as part of a poorly thought out and short-sighted effort to save money on the backs of its nurses, UWMC is insisting that RNs working in the OR and PACU should be punished by prohibiting RNs from signing up for a mandatory call shift on the same day as their regularly scheduled shift.

What does this mean to you? It means that if you require 4 call shifts per month as a condition of employment in your department, these must all be scheduled on a day that you would otherwise be off the schedule.

We warned UWMC leadership and Labor Relations that this change in practice would drive RNs to explore drastic alternatives and yet, they announced on Friday that they are rolling out this new requirement this week.

Moving forward, this means that you will not only have to take call shifts as a required part of your employment, but you will also have to do so on a day that you would otherwise have off the schedule.

This is an email excerpt from UWMC NW Labor relations:

“Practice Moving Forward: All call shifts will be changed to variable shifts, and employees will not be permitted to sign up for a call shift immediately after their regularly scheduled shifts. A different employee will be on call, and that employee would be entitled to standby/callback pay. If the regularly scheduled employee continues working, this would be an extension of their shift. If an employee is required to be on call immediately following their regularly scheduled shift, this would be considered an extension of their shift and NOT standby/callback. They will be paid OT or DT (depending on the length of the shift) and will not receive the standby premium for these consecutive hours worked. As soon as they finish working their regular shift, they will be on standby, receive the $4.25 premium for all hours worked, and receive the 3 hours callback pay if they are called back.”

Knowing that nurses are going to have significant concerns about the impact of any such changes on their work-life balance, we have scheduled a virtual town hall for all affected RNs on Friday, February 3, 2023, at 1700. If you cannot be there, please send a representative or send your concerns to your nurse representative, Stephenie Troftgruben (stroftgruben@wsna.org). The outcome of this drastic change will be reliant on the involvement of all OR and PACU RNs.

This is your opportunity to have a voice in the matter!