Ratification on September 1, details TBD. Your bargaining team recommends a “YES” vote!

After 19 hours in the third day of mediation, we have reached a historic tentative agreement with Children’s with $10 raises for all nurses over the next 12 months. While we wish we could have garnered even more, we want to recognize that the incredible turn-out at the picket and our solidarity in the workplace empowered us to aim high, act boldly, and win unprecedented raises. We were able to make the wage scale more equitable for nurses at the lower end of the scale while ensuring that senior nurses received increases we’ve never seen before at Children’s, and convert wage progression to an equitable annual advancement rather than one that perpetuates part-timers falling behind every year (disproportionately affecting nurses who take part-time FTEs to care for loved ones). Also – we successfully fought off all management’s attempts at take-aways; this contract only has improvements.

These are the economic highlights. A full summary of the Tentative Agreement along with the new wage scale will be out shortly.

Wages: Year 1: $6 per hour increase (equates to a 17% raise to the base rate, 8% to Step 36); effective second full pay period after ratification. Retro: nurses will receive a lump sum payment in the amount of $6 multiplied by all of the nurse’s paid hours from August 1 through the day before the effective date of the contract (that is, ratification).

Year 2: $4 per hour increase (equates to a 9% raise to base, 5% raise to Step 36).

Year 3: 3%.

By the end of the contract, the base rate will have increased by 31%, from the current rate of $36.21 to $47.60 in August ’24 – a boost we sincerely hope will bring new nurses to Children’s and will help to keep newer nurses working here. Meanwhile, our senior nurses continue to earn the highest rate in Washington State.

Wage Scale Progression: Currently in Section 4.10 of the contract, a nurse advances on the wage scale based on the number of hours they work (that is, a nurse only advances on the wage scale once they have worked the equivalent of a .8 FTE). As of ratification, all FTE nurses will progress on the wage scale on their anniversary regardless of the number of hours worked.

Lookback: In Year 2 (August 2023), all nurses at .75 FTE and higher who are not at the step on the wage scale that reflects their years of experience as a licensed RN will be moved up to the proper step on the wage scale based on years as an RN before any time worked at SCH plus all time worked at SCH as at least a .6 FTE (e.g. a nurse who worked for 5 years before coming to Children’s who then worked for Children’s as a .75 for 5 years would be moved to the 10 year step; a nurse who worked as a .6 for 5 years at Children’s and has been working as a .75 for the last 5 years would be moved to the 10 year step).

In Year 3 (August 2024), all nurses at .6-.74 FTE will be moved up accordingly.

All per diems who convert to FTE status will be brought up to the wage step that reflects their years of experience.

This will result in significant wage increases to many nurses who are or were part-timers.

ECMO Premium: increase to $3/hour (currently $1/hour) for hours when they are assigned to a pump or are carrying the ECPR pager.

Float Pool Premium: increase to $4.50/hour (from $4/hour).

NEW – Multi-Campus Floating: If a nurse is originally scheduled at one campus and is assigned to another campus with less than 4 hours’ notice, they will receive $1/hour for all hours worked at the other campus. Premium continues if the nurse then returns to their original site during the same shift.

NEW – Holiday Call: Nurses called to work from standby on holidays will receive double-time for a minimum of 3 hours.

Longevity Night Shift Differential: Sec. 9.1.1 – expanded to make it easier to qualify for this so more nurses working nights will receive this diff.

Juneteenth: Incredible that it took this long, but Juneteenth is now officially a holiday in our contract (we’re now at 10) and our annual leave has been increased by 8 hours to reflect this.

NEW - Work on Holidays: Sec. 10.4.b – Ambulatory nurses will now have options to be paid if their clinic is closed for weather or other external emergency conditions, or on a holiday: access to the No Pay Bank (if available), access the nurse’s paid leave, take ambulatory holiday no pay, or access other opportunities to work either in their clinic on special projects (if available), or be floated to a work area that is open. If the nurse works in an area that is open on the holiday, the nurse will receive holiday pay.

Nurses with Advanced Degrees Premium: nurses with doctoral degrees will receive an additional $1/hour.

While this tentative agreement doesn’t capture everything we wanted to accomplish, we have advanced equitable wages for nurses in the Seattle area in a way we truly hope helps to keep nurses at Children’s and attracts more nurses to come work. We wish for the best for the nurses at UW and Swedish who enter into their wage reopeners and look forward to seeing them advance the profession even more.

Watch for more information regarding the contract ratification vote coming soon.

Follow us on Facebook (Nursing Strong Seattle Childrens RNs) and Instagram (@SCHNurses).

In Solidarity,
Your negotiating team: Co-Chair Edna Cortez, PACU; Co-Chair Kara Yates, Medical Unit; Grievance Officer Diane Gates, PICU; Secretary/Treasurer Lindsey Kirsch, Urgent Care; Grievance Officer Erin Doyle, PATCH; Grievance Officer Samantha Lake, Operating Room; Katie Podobnik, Ambulatory; Sarah Munro, Bellevue Surgery Center; Shaina Lawson, NICU; Stefanie Chandos, ED; Annika Hoogesteraat, CVICU

Please contact WSNA Nurse Representative Travis Elmore Nelson at telmore@wsna.org or 206-575-7979 ext. 3117 with questions.