On April 9 we met with Overlake administration and management for our fourth bargaining session. For the last three sessions we worked hard to reach a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to address COVID-19’s horrendous impacts on Overlake’s nurses. Our proposal includes better access to testing, hazard pay, PTO protection, reasonable accommodation with benefits to those at high risk, 8-hour notice of a confirmed exposure, extra shift incentives and administrative pay for nurses the Employer prohibited from working due to exposure at work. We are also considering a one-year contract with a 3% wage increase effective May 1, 2020.

In support of our MOU, we showed Overlake a five-minute presentation that included photos of our working conditions – a mask held together with staples, a face shield held together with tape, dozens of bags of masks being stored on lockers and on shelves, as well as quotes from ADOs that you have submitted, speaking to unimaginable working conditions due to lack of PPE and other truly heart-wrenching scenarios.

Overlake’s reaction to our presentation? Denial. Management’s team insists nurses have received adequate PPE. No one on their team acknowledged our reality of working with COVID-19 patients.

We presented our MOU proposal, which you can read in full. Then we took a break for Overlake to consider this and respond. We reconvened at 3:50 pm via a conference call to receive Overlake’s response. Management’s response to our MOU? No testing protections. No hazard pay. No shift incentives. No PTO protection. No 8-hour notice of a confirmed exposure.

Read Overlake's counter proposal in full. We believe that when you read our proposal and Overlake’s response, you will understand why, at approximately 4:05 p.m. we took the action that we did.

As a team, in solidarity with each other and with all of you, our nurse colleagues who deserve better, we hung up. We dropped off the call. We symbolically walked out of the room. We were so fed up and disappointed with Overlake completely disregarding most of our proposals, that we decided as a group to end negotiations for the day.

We will meet again, on Wednesday, April 15.

What’s next? We need your help. Overlake is not taking us seriously. They say we have adequate PPE. They refuse to pay hazard pay. We need you to help us help you.

Ways you can help

1. One of the best ways is to fill their inboxes with ADOs. Many of you have submitted ADOs for lack of proper equipment. We need data that supports your reality working at Overlake. Every one of you, every shift, submit an ADO if you feel it is warranted. Do it NOW, before we bargain again on Wednesday, but keep it up afterwards. Submit a MIDAS as well, as an inspector from L&I has an open investigation at Overlake right now for safety concerns due to lack of PPE. This data will help. If your manager tells you not to complete an ADO, contact WSNA Nurse Rep Sydne James, sjames@wsna.org, as this could be an unfair labor practice.
   
   
2. Share this email with your nurse colleagues, many of whom do not receive WSNA emails.
   
   
3. Complete this survey if you have not already done so, about your COVID/PPE work experience.
   
   
4. Consider donating PTO to the WSNA bargaining team members. Per our CBA, Overlake pays us for 32 hours of bargaining. We have completed four sessions of bargaining, meaning that we will no longer be paid beginning with our next session. We ask that you consider donating PTO hours to be divided among the team members by printing this PTO donation form. Complete the form and return to WSNA nurse rep Sydne James sjames@wsna.org.

In solidarity,

Chris Birchem, East 3; Gemma Aranda, PACU; Brooke Dodd, South 4; Janet Moore-Lane, IPS; Pauline Whitney-Hille, IPS; Kathryn Geren, PACU; Cherise Horn, South 4; Sharon Sim, South 4; Magdalyn Chu, Emergency; Brenda Elliott, L&D; Jennifer Carney, South 3; Jesse Haung-Refuerzo, West 4