Newsletter - May 2023
Posted May 15, 2023
FREE Thomas Hammer coffee
to those nurses who stop by to chat with us! Come and see us! (Sponsored by the WSNA Local Unit Officers)
OFFICER ELECTIONS: are you receiving WSNA mail?
Please watch your mailboxes and check your mail pile! Officer election ballots are on the way out, so it’s very important to do your part and vote. Your WSNA officer team has large responsibilities, including monthly interactions with management to advocate for you, negotiating power in MOUs, and especially development of the contract negotiation team when our contract comes close to expiration. Having the best team is critical to this success and your vote counts!
Nurses Week!
Please ensure you are on the lookout for your Nurses Week gift! If it has not already arrived, it will soon!
Update on Seniority Hours
As a temporary solution to the grievance filed on your behalf, management has agreed to post seniority hours in each Nurse Manager’s office on a biweekly basis to ensure transparency in seniority hour accruals until a more permanent solution is developed for Genesis. Please do your part to check that this is being done, and make sure to ask your ANMs and NMs where these lists are being posted. In addition to these efforts, we are making a point to monitor how this situation is progressing in our monthly Conference Committee meetings with administration.
Low Census and Accruals. Do I still continue to get PTO, PTO Safe Sick and EIT?
The quick answer is yes! We have been hearing from nurses that when they take a low census day, whether that be mandatory or voluntary, their time off hours are being shorted. We are working to help sort this out but wanted to flag this issue for all WSNA RNs to watch out for. According to Article 9.4.2 “A nurse assigned a mandatory or granted a voluntary low census pursuant to this section shall be give credit toward seniority, PTO, EIT and Insurance Benefits”. Your task is to check your pay stubs and make sure you are getting all of your owed credit. If not, put in an HR ticket then let your Nurse Rep know if the issue is not resolved.
Update on Bill ESSB 5236 – Safe Staffing
(Taken by excerpt from an email sent on April 21 from WSNA)
On April 20, 2023, Gov. Inslee signed a safe staffing bill (ESSB 5236), which will improve working conditions for nurses and healthcare workers throughout the state. Our hard-fought victory for safer staffing was won in coalition with WSNA, UFCW 3000 and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.
This is another great step, and hurdle won, in a long process, one that was only possible because of the countless actions taken by thousands of members like you – sharing your stories, posting photos with placards, contacting your lawmakers, and demanding we do something to address the burnout and staffing crisis. That means that as of April 20, our bill is law. This is real and meaningful progress towards safer staffing and better hospital accountability.
In order for the bill to pass, a compromise was reached: minimum staffing standards — or staffing ratios — along with financial penalties, are built in as a corrective action plan that could be required by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) in case of noncompliance, establishing a different path to ratios than the solution we called for initially. This bill, however, closes many of the loopholes and weaknesses in existing law, and moves to the forefront patient safety and the working conditions of nurses and healthcare workers.
- Strengthen accountability for complying with hospital staffing plans set by staffing committees.
- Eliminate CEO veto power over those plans.
- Create uniform reporting forms, which will mean that patients and healthcare workers can more easily understand how many staff should be present.
- Require hospitals to report noncompliance to DOH with an opportunity for staffing committee co-chairs to verify the validity of the hospital’s reports.
- Allow DOH and L&I to issue corrective action plans that could require minimum staffing standards and fines.
- Expand staffing committees to include LPNs, CNAs, and other direct patient care staff in addition to RNs.
- Expand meal and rest break laws to include all frontline staff.
- Close loopholes to make mandatory overtime laws fully enforceable.
- Allow L&I to issue escalating penalties for missed breaks.
- Funds the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to conduct a study of existing staffing plans.
Laws take time to implement, but it’s important to know how this will impact you and your hospitals. Over the coming months we will be distributing materials to make sure all of our members are in the loop and know what to expect in an implementation timeline.
Congratulations to Nonie Kingma
Nonie, recently retired from Sacred Heart (congratulations - and also, we miss you!), is the recipient of the Excellence in Nursing Leadership Award from the Inland Empire Nurses’ Association. We are so proud of her! Her nomination reads:
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.
Incentive MOU Update
The MOU for incentive shifts has passed in a vote of the bargaining unit members. Please go to the posted document to view the MOU language. WSNA recommended a YES vote on this MOU to give nurses the option to volunteer to A) go from part-time to full-time and receive a bonus amount or b) switch temporarily to night shift and receive a bonus amount. Many units have massive night shift holes, and the hope is to allow nurses the incentivized option to fill those gaps, especially since we know many nurses have been doing this already to help their fellow team members. As always, WSNA feels this is not solving the entire problem of staffing, and while we hope this has a positive impact on staffing these shifts, we also made it very clear the dire conditions nurses are experiencing every day to management. We stressed that if staffing needs continue to be unfilled, it is important to escalate incentives accordingly to remedy the issue.
WSNA T-Shirts
Can I wear my WSNA shirt? WSNA position is YES - you can wear them, but if asked to take them off by a manager, please comply and let your nurse rep know ASAP. If you see other t-shirts being allowed, such as Gonzaga, Seahawks or Providence etc. document it. It is helpful to have this proof in the event a charge be pursued.
Committee Updates
Workplace Violence Committee:
Looking for a new member for WPV (Workplace Violence Committee) ! A huge thank you to Sarah Bailey, who is stepping down for a new chapter. Best wishes, Sarah! Email Nurse Rep Jaclyn Smedley if you are interested at jsmedley@wsna.org.
Updates from WPV Committee
Many security updates:
- Only 50% of workplace violence events are being reported in the Red Cap by staff, security would like to see this increased.
- Over 1,000 staff members have participated in EVADE this year, which is encouraging.
- Security has been increasing their rounding with managers in various departments.
- Active shooter drills will take place at Sacred Heart, unknown time and location at this point, but most likely in mid-June.
- Grant proposal for hardening hospital entrances has been submitted, and is awaiting further communication.
- The Psych Nurse Manager is having meetings with Security Management in regards to creating a post inside Gold Zone.
- Updated workplace violence resources poster will be provided for Emergency Department and Neuro.
- Adult Inpatient Psych Beds were decreased due to staffing concerns related to use of resident team, and laying off all psychiatrist at Sacred Heart, those beds will remain decreased until 2 Psych ARNPs can be hired.
- Security Alarm Buttons should be tested at the start of every shift, especially in the Emergency Department. All staff have permission to do this, after they’ve communicated with security that it will be a test.
- Code Greys have decreased over all in the hospital.
- One reason may be the shift in cultural practice of calling a pre-code grey vs calling for a standby.
- Please note that pre-code grey is no longer an option for calling security.
Staff from Labor and Delivery and Mother Baby have been going to EVADE in 2023 with record numbers showing up. Security rounding in these departments has also increased.
Nurse Staffing Committee Update from Tom Barnett PICU RN – NSC Member
Greetings SHMC Nurses. We have had a bit of changing of the guard on the Staffing Committee over the last few months. I am pleased to welcome Alyssa Boldt from 9N. We will also be welcoming Jessica Lewellen from AGPU starting in June. I (Tom Barnett PICU) have stepped into the Staffing Committee Co-Chair role, and must give a shout out to Nonie Kingma AGPU RN, who recently retired after many, many dedicated years to both SHMC AND the Staffing Committee. Nonie, you are already missed!
As for the business of our committee, we continue to hear reports of extremely short-staffed shifts, mostly throughout the tower, and largely on night shift. We have been working with our management colleagues on the committee to try to bring some relief to the nurses. They continue to approve travel nurses on many units throughout the house. Also, the new MOU that was passed was shaped, in part, from feedback our committee had received from many of you. This is only a short-term strategy, but we are hoping it will help. Please continue to give us feedback, either in person or via email, and we will continue to advocate for our patients and you, the nurses.
Our committee is now meeting with IRC leadership on a quarterly basis; our next meeting will be in June. So, if you are having staffing issues related to IRC, please email them to a WSNA officer or, if appropriate, you may include those details in a Staffing Analysis Form (unsafe staffing form). We review every single form that is submitted. The process can be slow, but with changes coming from the new Safe Staffing Bill (SB 5236), creating documentation of missed breaks and instances of being over guidelines will become even more important. As always, thank you for your tireless dedication to our patients, each other, and this community. – Tom Barnett, Committee Co-Chair
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.
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 is at Step 3.
Williams and All affected – 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. This grievance is at Step 1.
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.
The following Association Group Grievances have been advanced to Arbitration:
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.
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.
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. This grievance has been denied by SHMC at step 4 and is now being considered for Arbitration.
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.
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 2023
- Total Local Unit Funds amount = $76,125.30
- 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 officer related expenses the first quarter.
- Coffee cards for Nurses Week - $10,000.00
- WSNA car decals - $1,400.00
- Sip and Chat - $392.49
- Spokane Alliance Annual Membership - $800.00
- Contract Ratification Celebration (Flatstick Pub) - $6,526.36
- Lobby Day (Sent nurse who applied to WSNA Lobby Day) $400.00
To see a full report of the local unit funds and expenses, use the link buttons below:
LOST AND FOUND!
At the ratification vote in January, someone left this beautiful water bottle and it’s now looking for the rightful owner. If this bottle is yours, email Jenny Galassi RN WSNA Organizer at jgalassi@wsna.org to claim it!
Questions? Contact your officers or WSNA Nurse Representative Jaclyn Smedley. Contact information can be found at the top of this page.