We met with Management on Wednesday, April 23 as a joint session with UWMC Montlake and Northwest and will meet again on Thursday April 24. We continue with this strong tradition of coordinating across both campuses to keep nurses united in solidarity as management begins proposing takeaways including:

• Eliminating the long-standing 28/160 salary system for nurses at Montlake. This would be a huge change for Montlake nurses.  (Stay tuned for more information about this.)
• Eliminating double time shifts.
• Making it more difficult to take leave for union business.

Despite Management’s efforts at takeaways, we’re continuing to fight for our priorities:

Workplace Violence and Safety

• Increasing the number of nurses serving on the workplace violence prevention committee. We also want to create separate committees that can focus on the safety challenges unique to each campus.

Break Relief

• Ensuring nurses get their rest and meal breaks on every unit and every shift. We proposed creating a break relief nurse position at Montlake, above the current staff matrix.  We made a similar proposal last week for Northwest.

 Management continues to make proposals attempting to re-organize our two contracts to be more in-line with each other, including changing time off leave requests. They proposed updating our sick leave to reflect state law and address pregnancy, bereavement leave, and DA/SA abuse to an employee or family member. They also proposed changes to the suspended operations language and how employees will be directed during those periods.

Improvements to our contract depend on what actions we take away from the table. We can’t do this without all of you. Each of us can do two simple things to secure a strong contract.

1. Come observe negotiations!

We're inviting observers to come and see the negotiations process for themselves! This will keep our process transparent and hold management accountable. The next session will be at the E-Wing auditorium on the Northwest Campus Thursday April 24.

Observers should arrive at 9:30am. We encourage observers to sign up here so we can keep track of how many people plan on attending (it helps when we order food), but you are not required to sign up to observe. If you plan on observing, please make sure to read through this document so you know what to expect. For any questions about observing negotiations, reach out to WSNA Organizer Zach at 206-406-7203 or zseikel@wsna.org.

1. Stay in the loop! 

Make sure you've joined our private Facebook group and our Instagram. As we continue negotiations, it's crucial to read the email updates and stay informed about what's happening at the table. Click here for our social media links. For any questions get in touch with your negotiation team at wsna.uwnorthwest@gmail.com or wsna.uwmontlake@gmail.com.

Negotiation Dates:

April 8

April 14 At NW Campus

April 17 At NW Campus

April 23** at UW Gateway Building

April 24** Virtual at NW Campus

May 12**

May 15**

May 22**

June 3**

June 17**

**Planned Joint Session

If you have questions, you can contact WSNA Northwest Nurse Representative Stephenie Troftgruben at stroftgruben@wsna.org, or WSNA Montlake Nurse Representative Ed Zercher at ezercher@wsna.org.