Your WSNA team of Officers is looking for Grievance Officer! Email jsmedley@wsna.org if interested.

In this issue:

• We have our negotiation team
• Conference Committee updates from your WSNA officers
• Safe Staffing Committee update from Nonie Kingma, Staffing Committee Chair
• Treasurer Report from Rian Williams, WSNA Treasurer
• Workplace Violence Committee Updates from Jessica Lewellen, WSNA Member-At-Large
• Grievance Corner

We have our negotiation team!

Please welcome Cynthia Escamilla Patterson Clinical Documentation Specialist, Allison Raasina Surgical Services/OR, Kelsey South Adult Emergency Department, and Kaila Phillips General Care Unit. They will be in addition to your current Local Unit Officers, who represent Intensive Care, the tower, Women’s and Children’s, and Psychiatric Services. We are happy to say our team has a great representation of most departments, which is a strength for ensuring our contract meets everyone’s needs.

In the upcoming weeks, your Negotiation Team and Nurse Rep will be meeting to review the survey you filled out in recent months and develop a contract issues list, which will then be presented to our WSNA attorney for review. Bargaining begins in the fall!

We will also be having a Local Unit Meeting on June 22 at the Spokane Labor Council, 510 S Elm. The times will be at 0800 and 2000. If you have questions, come to the meeting, and it’s also a great opportunity to meet your full negotiating team.

Conference Committee updates from your WSNA officers

Updates of what your Officers have been working on these past few months:

WSNA Conference Committee meets monthly. Since a few months have passed since our last updates, we wanted to provide you with a synopsis of the issues that have been addressed since January.

• Break-ins in the garage – The Workplace Violence Committee has been working with security to address these break-ins and hopefully lessen them in frequency.

• Presumptive Eligibility Updates - WSNA has been pressing on management to ensure unit managers are fully educated on 5190, the presumptive eligibility law. We have heard nurses have been asked by their managers where they got COVID and have been forced to deplete their own leave accounts. Under that law, provided the nurse is not on a designated leave and is still working at the bedside, that question should not be asked, as the assumption is nurses got it from the workplace. With an increase in staff infections, it’s important to know that workers are presumed to have gotten COVID from work. L and I has approved most claims in the great majority of cases. Always file with Sedgwick in the case of COVID!
• CICU Traveler’s Contracts Issues- We had heard that night shift RNs in CICU had been having difficulty in transitioning to a day shift position, as we had heard travelers’ contracts on day shifts had been continuing to be extended. Management agreed that a plan should be in place to transition night shift RNs to days, so hopefully this situation improves. Reach out to your officers if you have concerns or questions.
• COVID End-Of-Life (EOL) Policies- Per management, any family members who wish to see their loved one for end-of-life purposes might now have a method to do so. However, we have been told in these instances, exceptions will be made on a case by case basis, and extra visitors is not the rule per the state. Management has assured us that Administrators-On-Call and Supervisors are able to make reasonable exceptions. Because of this, it is important that CN/Primary RNs know this is an option to ensure EOL COVID patients are able to have family present at bedside. Conference Committee has been pushing for months to liberalize the COVID visitation policy.
• Vocera Updates - In learning that eventually SHMC will be asking the nurses to switch to Vocera, WSNA clarified with management that the device will not be used for disciplinary purposes.
• WSNA Committee Update - We have worked to ensure that contractual committees such as Nurse Practice Committee have been able to meet/have the option to meet. Waiting to hear follow up from HR on their frequency of meeting currently.
• Café Business Hours – Your team is working on engaging with management to develop a means of communication if the café must close on night shift. Staffing has evidently been an issue, but nurses have had no notice of closures and have been left without meals. Possibility of using the Spectralink phones to notify charge nurses via text if/when closures are upcoming so staff can make a plan.
• Potholes - Asked SHMC to request that the city repair the large dip/pothole in the road just off Qdoba on Rockwood. They are requesting it be repaired right now as we understand it.
• Prescheduled Overtime - Nurses raised a concern that management was requiring nurses to use PTO if they were unable to fill an OT shift that they voluntarily signed up for and was prescheduled. Management is currently not requiring the use of this, after WSNA raised this as an issue and a violation of the WSNA contract. If there are further concerns, or nurses are being forced to use PTO if they must call in ill for an OT shift, contact WSNA. This may constitute a grievance.
• COVID Attestation Forms - WSNA inquired about the status of the COVID attestation forms and if they are still being required. We were told this is an OSHA requirement, and we asked if there were other alternatives to a paper form. Management has told us there are some options that could be used, but they are in the remote future.
• At Needs List for Supplementals - Clarified an issue which was occurring in the Peds Surgery Center that involved management’s unilateral interpretation of Appendix A. WSNA believes that supplementals, by offering to work a designated shift or making themselves available to work on dates that are in-need, are still meeting their contract obligations even if they are no longer needed on that shift. Since raising this issue at Conference Committee, Management has told us they believe their interpretation to be correct, and because of this an Association Group Grievance has been filed. If you feel you have been impacted in a similar way, please reach out to Jaclyn Smedley BSN, RN WSNA Nurse rep at jsmedley@wsna.org
• Retention Bonus - Have continued to inform management that retention bonuses are important to staffing retention; management has no plans for retention bonuses at this time.
• Mandatory Overtime - Issues of nurses working mandatory on-call OT in the OR when non-emergent cases are added to the schedule – management notes they are aware and are working on it at a leadership level.

Staffing Committee updates from Nonie Kingma, RN AGPU, Chair of the Safe Staffing Committee

The Staffing Committee has been very busy working through Nurse Staffing Analysis (NSA) forms and having staff from all the units come through to give us updates. It has been helpful that so many of you have taken the time to send in your complaints and to give us details about what you are facing in the EDs and on the floors. We are working hard to put pressure on this organization to do the right thing and to find a way to get and retain staff so that we all can do the kind of expert and compassionate nursing we are capable of for our patients.

The Staffing Committee said goodbye to a longtime member as our wonderful Vicki Benson from IR retired in March. She had served you on this committee for 5 years and was an invaluable voice of wisdom and advocacy for nurses. Her attention to detail is legendary in our group! We miss her very much but I hear that retirement is not a bad gig!

Raul Gatchalian from 7N has also left Sacred Heart. He is now working in a different facility. Boy are they lucky to have him! Raul had worked hard on this committee for many years and offered the perspective of a nurse on a floor that was especially hard hit with COVID admissions. Raul will be missed for so many reasons, not least of which is his humor. He, many times, has defused a tense situation with just a bit of humor and perspective. We love him and miss him so much!

We have welcomed two new members: Jen Haines, NICU and Leah Robertson, 7N. These two nurses accepted positions on the Staffing Committee with enthusiasm and we are so glad to have them! They both bring, not only smarts, but evident passion for what the Staffing Committee is all about - advocacy for nurses and safe staffing.

As promised, we submitted a complaint to the DOH regarding the hospital's lack of compliance with staffing guidelines. We did this on about April 15th. A short time later we received a response from the DOH which said that due to the "unforeseen emergency" that the State of Washington is in, they would not be investigating the hospital as we had requested. We responded to their refusal to investigate with a clear rejection of this excuse and with a promise to keep fighting for safe staffing. We are considering next steps and will keep you posted.

That's it for now. Please keep those submissions coming. It does matter.

Workplace Violence Committee updates from Jessica Lewellen, Member at Large, WVC Chair

• The Workplace Violence Committee has openings if interested please email: member.at.large1.wsna.shmc@gmail.com
• Crime Victim cards have been rolled out, and security will be providing them to staff during any workplace violence incidents including car break ins
• PCCA will start to look into creating Care Plans for high risk patients and possibly place it in EPIC and the soft chart
• Gretchen Guess Executive Director of Operations has joined the committee
• Workplace Violence signs are being put up in the hospital again, please email member.at.large1.wsna.shmc@gmail.com if you know of a location that needs a sign
• Jennifer Britton is working on a draft for a pre-procedure safety planning policy
• Potholes around the hospital have been reported to the city per Gretchen Guess, Executive Director of Operations
• Security and HR are reviewing the process for involving a manager for WPV events between caregivers

Treasurer Report from Rian Williams, 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.

We are happy to report, the WSNA local unit of SHMC sent 7 nurses to WSNA Leadership this year! Each nurse was provided $400 from the local unit funds for conference cost reimbursement! 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 May 2022:

• Total Local Unit Funds amount = $78, 417.44
• 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
• Other expenses for the month of May
  • American Pride Printing (Nurses Week t-shirts) = $14,299.93
  • Officer representational expenses = $83.39

To see a full breakdown of deposits and usage, open the documents in the document bar above.

Grievance Corner from your WSNA Nurse Representative, Jaclyn Smedley, BSN, RN

Current Grievances:

Currently, there are 9 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.

ALERT! – Recently, a nurse was terminated for using the chat platform within the Epic charting system for personal reasons. We have heard that this is a common practice among nurses, and we want to caution you from making the same mistake! If you need to talk to someone for personal reasons, do it on your break or lunch and be sure to use a personal device.

Wedekind and All Affected – This grievance is at Step 3. The hospital is arguing part time and in lieu nurses do not accrue PTO Safe Sick leave, and in addition, they are indicating these nurses only accrue Safe Sick and at a rate of 1 hr for every 40 worked. We disagree and feel the contact (Article 10.1) is crystal clear.

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.

Normington and All Affected – Nurses who work in the General Care Unit are not being provided open available shifts prior to them being offered to the float pool. Management considers the float pool as part of the core staffing, and we feel this is not okay. Thus, a grievance has been filed to remedy this issue.

The following Association Group Grievances have been advanced to Arbitration:

Nagahiro and All Affected – Overtime calculation issue when a nurse works call back. The employer is arguing they get to credit time worked in callback towards the total sum in a 40-hr. week.

Taylor and All Affected – COVID vaccine declination form being discriminatory. We found that only those nurses 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.

Chessar and All Affected - Overtime calculation issue when a nurse works call back. The employer is arguing they get to credit time worked in callback towards the total sum of 80 hours in a two-week period.

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 nurses 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.

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Jaclyn Smedley at jsmedley@wsna.org.