FAST highlights

• Free Thomas Hammer coffee at Sip and Chat
• MOUs are on the move
• Seniority hours coming to Genesis
• Why can't I roll my 403b over to the new 401k?
• Officer elections are done!
• Nonie Kingma receives the Nursing Excellence Award
• Is mamgement asking to meet with you? What now?
• Accomplishing hard work at the workplace violence committee
• Grievance corner
• Treasurer report

Sip and Chat

FREE Thomas Hammer coffee to those nurses who stop by to chat with us in the cafeteria! Come and see us!  (Sponsored by the WSNA Local Unit Officers).

• Sept. 6, 1100-1300
• Sept. 21, 2100-2300

MOUs are on the move

In June 2023, the nurses of Sacred Heart voted to ratify two MOUs that will bring better pay, and fairness to the nurses.  To see the newly ratified MOUs, use the links below.

Nurses! The work is not done.  Your team of officers continue to work on more MOUs from management and will continue to uphold and fight for what is best for our nurses.

Therefore, we now have TWO ADDITIONAL MOUs to be put to a vote!

Come, cast your vote!  WSNA is recommending a “YES” vote.  

When?  Sept. 13, 1100 to 1300
Where? Leahy Room, near the cafeteria

Seniority Hours coming to Genesis

Management states seniority hours will be accessible for any viewing in Genesis by September!

Why can’t I roll my 403b over to the new 401k?

Thank you for your patience Sacred Heart RNs for allowing us to research this issue, and get you concrete information.  Through Conference Committee, your team of officers raised this topic up to management and just recently a reply was received.  Here is what they told us.

“A 401(k) plan is a "qualified" plan under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Only assets of plans qualified under Section 401(a) can be merged together into one plan. Providence was able to consolidate caregivers' balances in the 401(a) Service Plan into the 401(k) Plan. Unfortunately, the Internal Revenue Code provisions applicable to 403(b) plans prohibit plan sponsors from similarly consolidating the assets of a 403(b) plan into a 401(k) plan. Treasury Regulation 403(b)-10(b)(1).  The IRS has stated in a private letter ruling (PLR 200317022) that if a 403(b) plan is merged with a plan that is qualified under Section 401(a), the assets of the 40(b) plan will be taxable to employees. This applies to all caregivers, not just those that are represented.

There are occasionally Congressional proposals to allow 403(b) plans to be merged into 401(k) plans due to the flexibility in investment options that make 401(k) plans more attractive. We will continue to watch these developments in the hopes that we can consolidate assets in the future and allow caregivers the full menu of investments available under the 401(k) plan.”

Should you have any more questions on this topic we encourage you to reach out to HR for more information.

OFFICER ELECTIONS are done!

Congratulations to those nurses who have been elected to represent the nurses of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center! To see a full list of the officers and elected committee members view the “Important Contacts to Know” sheet.

• Ehren Burright, ADN, MS-BC (Float Pool) Co Chair cochair2.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Rian Williams, RN, BSN, RNC (NICU) Treasurer treasurer.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Claire Nazzaro, BSN, RN Secretary secretary.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Wendy McNairy, RN (Psych ED) Grievance Officer grievance.officer.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Lori Cousley, BSN, RN, PMH-BC Grievance Officer Grievance.officer2.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Jessica Lewellen, RN (AGPU) Member at Large member.at.large1.wsna.shmc@gmail.com

Nonie Kingma RN, former AGPU/SHMC nurse receives the Nursing Excellence Award from Inland Empire Nurses Association

“Nonie has served the nurses of Sacred Heart for many years and in many capacities. She has been an outstanding negotiating team member, and most recently in the last several years, has held the important role of Chair of the Nurse Staffing Committee. Nonie is well-spoken, and known for pursuing what is right and just, with true grace. Nonie has enforced staffing matrices for safe patient care and has demonstrated to her committee members what it takes to be a true leader.” – Jaclyn Smedley BSN, RN WSNA Nurse Rep

Is Management Asking to Meet with You?  
WHAT NOW?

If management is asking to meet with you, you are not alone.  By being a union member, you can invoke your Weingarten Rights, and have union representation with you at the meeting.  It is the role of the nurse to contact a WSNA officer and arrange for them to go with you.  Should you find yourself in this situation, call Voice Tel at 1-866-305-5612 and leave a message.  One of the officers will return your call.

Get more tips on this process in our informational flyer. Feel free to distribute this flyer to other nurses to help them as well.

Accomplishing hard work at the workplace violence committee

(WPV Committee members Jessica Lewellen AGPU, and Jennifer Britton IVT)

Here are the updates for Workplace Violence Committee for August 2023:

Attendance: Kristopher Meese (Security Manager), Meredith Ellis director of Acute Care, Jessica Lewellen WSNA RN,  (Jennifer Britton had the times wrong and wasn’t able to attend at 10A)

• Introduction to Kristopher Meese as the newest Providence Security Manager, has 12 years of experience at Providence in various roles, and will be assisting Devin with EVADE Training
• Ed Earhart provided an update to Meredith Ellis about the ongoing concern of cameras in the Psych Department being used by staff who have no new training for the camera system, and the system consistently freezing. He would like the education and concerns be brought up at unit level, since he does not see an issue with staff using the camera system, and if the cameras freeze than staff can just reboot the system. This will be brought up at the AGPU UBC meeting, and a list of staff concerns and issues will be sent to Ed Earhart from the unit level
• Management brought up the idea of starting safety huddles on units during shift report. Will be developed further as to what this looks like
• Security Update:
  • occurred on PCCA, AGPU, and Psych ED (injury from broken pexi glass being used as a weapon from a patient in Psych ED)
• Security will be providing further training at the Fall Nurses Skill Fair
• Security Academy has been completed for the July group, and another is expected to start in October
• EVADE courses continue to be provided on a weekly basis, mostly Wednesdays
• Survey numbers are pending from the workplace violence survey (will be discussed at next meeting)
• Federal Grant pending to provide an Athena Weapons Detection system at ED entrance and Main Entrance. It’s similar to a metal detector. Will provide further information at next meeting
• Next shooter preparedness drill will occur in Stevens County and then St. Luke’s Rehab
• Looking into providing a computer for the security location in Gold Zone so security can write reports
• It is being requested that when a staff member sends in a workplace violence form online, an automatic email be sent to that staff member’s ANM or Caregiver Supervisor to let them be made aware that an incident occurred, and to have the debriefing form attached. It is expected that the ANM or Charge will debrief with staff after every incident of violence, but that never occurs which results in staff not being supported during a difficult time.
• Will start looking at re-invigorating the Safe at Prov website to make it more accessible for staff to use resources and find workplace violence form to fill out.

Grievance Corner from your WSNA Grievance Officer

Wendy McNairy RN. ECT Unit.  grievance.officer.wsna.shmc@gmail.com

Current Grievances:

Currently, there are 12 grievances in process. Only grievances that are filed on behalf of the whole local unit are disclosed here. Grievances involving discipline, termination or are filed for a personal reason are considered confidential.

Williams and All affected RESOLVED!– After the contract was ratified, management failed to implement the differentials or premiums as they should.  A grievance was filed, and a settlement MOU reached.  However, since then the MOU has been violated since outstanding retro pay is still owed.  We are happy to report that ALL nurses, including those who have left SHMC since Jan 2023 have received their retro pay.  Congratulations on your win SHMC nurses!

Wyatt and All Affected – With the new contract, came a new float pool premium for the nurses hired into the float pool since the nature of their work required them to be in many places, at various times, and for various reasons.  The unpredictability of this role was extremely cumbersome, so a premium was bargained.  However, management is arguing the newly bargained $3.00/hr only applied to hours in which they float for the float pool. We don’t agree with this because we feel any hours a float pool nurse works, is floating hours since this is the role in which they were hired into. This grievance is currently at Step 4.

The following Association Group Grievances have been advanced to Arbitration:

King and All Affected – Upon rehire, a nurse was forced to return to the bottom tier of the PTO accrual grid in the contract because she had been away from SHMC for more than one year.  We don’t agree this is the correct application of the language and are arguing that sums can be lost according to the contract but not the tier rate or accrual itself.  This grievance has been advanced to arbitration.

Taylor and All Affected – COVID vaccine declination form being discriminatory.  We found that only those nurse who sought an exemption from the COVID vaccine, were required to fill out the declination form.  We believe this to be discrimination.  In addition, the nurses were required to attest to certain language prior to submitting their request, and the attestation language, we felt, was not factual as indicated by Providence.

South and All Affected – The grievance was filed due to the issue of the employer skipping the second step, in article 10.5 when it came to approving or denying PTO requests.  While we worked hard for a year to reach a mutually agreeable settlement, SHMC has yet to provide a plan to remedy this grievance to our satisfaction.

Mikhailenko and All Affected – Flu vaccine declination form being discriminatory.  We found that only those nurse who sought an exemption from the flu vaccine, were required to fill out the declination form.  We believe this to be discrimination.  In addition, the nurses were required to attest to certain language prior to submitting their request, and the attestation language, we felt, was not factual as indicated by Providence.

Richter and All Affected - Management in the Peds Surgery Center is telling Supplemental nurses that in order to fulfill their obligations of Appendix A, they must continue to sign up from the “at needs” list, even if they have already signed up for a shift, and was not awarded the shift.  Essentially, they must continue to sign up, until they actually work the hours they have committed to in their tier.  We don’t agree with this application and feel nurses need only make themselves available for shifts from the “at needs” list.

Treasurer Report from Rian Williams BSN, RN, RNC, WSNA Treasurer

What many WSNA nurses don’t know, or realize, is that 4% of the dues that are paid to WSNA each month, are returned to the local unit in the form of a Local Unit Fund account held by WSNA to support the actives of the local unit.

The WSNA Cabinet has indicated the funds can be used by members to promote membership, educational activities, contract administration, internal communications engage in public relations activities, support their officers and negotiating team.

Since the last newsletter, the officers issued four scholarships from the local unit funds for nurses to attend the WSNA Convention.  Each scholarship was worth a total of $1,000!  Three nurses from SHMC attended the convention, and one from Providence VNA.  Thank you for your generosity!

If you are interested in obtaining reimbursement for a WSNA activity of the local unit, contact a local unit officer, or your Nurse Rep to find out how.

Funds Status as of Aug 2023:

• Total Local Unit Funds amount = $ 72,736.19
• Incoming dues each month = $4,000 on average
• Ongoing Local Unit Expenses =
  • Voice Tel - $25.88/month
  • Storage Unit - $84/month
  • Labor Council Dues = $227.50/month

To see a full  report of the local unit funds and expenses, use the links below:

Did you get this newsletter via email? If not, then we probably don’t have a working home email address for you! Contact Jaclyn Smedley BSN, RN Nurse Rep at jsmedley@wsna.org to trouble shoot on why this is happening. We want to make sure you don’t miss out on any important updates.

Questions? Contact your officers or WSNA Nurse Representative Jaclyn Smedley.  Contact information can be found in the ribbon at the top of this page.