On November 28, WSNA and King County met for our fifth bargaining session. We had not met since Nov. 4 due to two cancelled sessions this month because of illness.

Economic

Today WSNA gave our first economic proposal to the County. We presented a comprehensive analysis of how County base rates have fallen dramatically behind the market average and continue to do so as more employers in King County are negotiating mid-contract wage increases to attract and maintain their nurses. We are looking at a multifaceted approach to get nurse wages on par with the County average. Our proposal includes aggressive general wage increases along with a greatly enhanced longevity premium.

Community Health

On the Community Health side, WSNA proposed new language around commuting and telemedicine. Our proposal grew out of a productive bargaining session and is designed to avoid unnecessary travel time for those doing field work. We are waiting for the County’s response on this.

Jail Health Proposals

On Jail scheduling, the parties identified a mutual goal of reducing the County’s dependence on agency nurses. WSNA proposed changes to Article 10 language that would give priority to bargaining unit nurses over agency nurses when doing the monthly schedule.

To improve the scheduling process and avoid the proliferation of new patterns, the parties are working on a new “flexible pattern.” Akin to a jail relief nurse position, this flexible pattern would be in place on a trial basis for a year. The concept is that a relief nurse would work a "flexible pattern" to help fill some of the holes in the regular jail pattern schedules each month. The flexible pattern would not be a set pattern. What this means is each month the relief nurse could be scheduled to work a different pattern but would remain on the same shift (day, evening, or night). WSNA and King County leadership believe that this will help with recruiting and hiring.

WSNA and King County have a tentative agreement to modify how bidding with patterns in jail health (JHS) works. The change is intended to help improve recruitment and hiring of nurses in JHS by slightly reducing the frequency of bids. A nurse will need to work in a pattern for 6 months before they can bid again. This is designed to increase the stability regarding patterns which will help with JHS hiring.

Our next day at the table will be Dec. 8.

Your bargaining team,
Tyler Breier, Chair, Child Care Program
Tami Nesler, Grievance officer, MRJC
Carolyn Clark, Grievance officer, KCCF
Kaila Tang, PHN with NFP
Elena Schensted, PHN with First Steps

For questions, please contact WSNA Nurse Representative Michelle Moore at MMoore@wsna.org or reach out to your local unit officers.