On Wednesday April 22, your WSNA team of registered nurses met with UWMC Management for our 3^rd bargaining session. During this session, WSNA offered a significant economic proposal. UWMC NW is lagging behind the area market anywhere from 6% to 10.5% and our proposal is intended to close that gap over the next two years. WSNA gave a presentation that included information about area comparables, the housing market, the significant turnover of nurses, etc. It is clear that the hospital needs to close this gap in order to attract qualified nurses and retain them.

Despite agreeing to have all proposals on the table by the third session, WSNA is disappointed that the employer is not going to provide a wage proposal until sometime in May when they receive some comparative studies.

WSNA has made a number of proposals intended to provide a safe work environment and to allow for a life – work balance. Some of these proposals include:

• WSNA has proposed increases in most premiums including increases in call pay with additional pay for call over 50 hours per pay period.
• WSNA made a proposal intended to end dangerous variable/shift rotations except in a few limited situations.
• WSNA proposed staffing language to reflect the current law but would also take into account staffing to allow for vacations and sufficient staffing so the employer refrains from giving charge nurses patient assignments.
• WSNA proposed scheduling language that would limit the hospitals’ ability to change your set schedule. Nurses have been loud and clear that changes to set schedules are a big dissatisfier.
• WSNA proposed language that would provide for increased staff safety.

During the last couple of sessions, the employer has proposed some significant takeaways for RNs at NW including:

• The employer has proposed to extend the probationary period from 90 days to 6 months with the ability to extend another 3 months beyond that 6 month period.
• The employer proposed a significant change in the definition of seniority by changing seniority to the hire date with the company, even if a nurse was not in an RN position.
• The employer has proposed involuntary floating between NW and Montlake.
• The employer has proposed the ability to force WSNA to bargain any provision of the contract and more during the life of the contract.
• The employer has proposed to change the way weekends work which could result in a negative impact.
• The employer proposed the ability to bypass seniority and internal hiring practices to hire RNs from outside of UWMC NW if they believe there are better external candidates.
• The employer has proposed a takeaway in education funding.

As we have just received many of these proposals and more. Your WSNA bargaining team has just begun to evaluate the employer’s proposed changes. Your team is ready to fight hard to push back on proposals that would negatively impact your working conditions, and continue to fight for improved wages for nurses.

Our next session is on May 6^, 2021. Please BUTTON UP with your WSNA button, especially on May 6. Your unit reps will be hanging bags of buttons on your WSNA bulletin board.

Please be sure that WSNA has your current contact infor­ma­tion including your email address. This will ensure that you receive timely updates. Updates can also be found at: https://​www​.wsna​.org/​u​n​i​o​n​/​n​o​r​t​h​w​e​s​t-hospital. Questions? Please contact your Nurse Rep, Sara Frey, at sfrey@wsna.org (206) 575‑7979, ext. 3039, WSNA Organizer Annie Mansfield at amansfield@wsna.org or talk to one of your team members.

In Solidarity,
Your 2021 WSNA Bargaining Team members,
Josef Mansour — ED, Brook Dodd — SCU, Hugh M McGowan — Neigh­bor­hood Clinics, Tiffany Guyette — Float, Samuel Alemu — MS, Heidi Glenden­ning — Birth Center, Rebekah Aguilar — Birth Center, Eliza­beth Tassani – ED, Tom Booze — ED