We went into bargaining yesterday with high hopes that we would be able to share that we had reached a tentative agreement. After 14-plus hours of bargaining, we called it. There are too many important issues still on the table and Management still doesn’t get that the low wages and short staffing are the results of its own poor decisions. We’re tired of Skagit taking us for granted.

Fellow Skagit nurses, we say this from our heart – it’s time for a gut-check. Are you willing to do what is necessary to win the Contract we deserve? Are you willing to show up at actions, talk to your coworkers and get them on board, become a dues-paying member of WSNA and help drive the bus rather than ride for free and let others pay for gas? We want the answers to all of these questions to be a resounding *yes*. The alternative is to live with the best contract management is willing to give us.

To be clear, we don’t like the alternative.

Action Items – Now Is The Time

• Sip n Chat – Thursday at 6 p.m. Our attorney-negotiator will join to walk us through what’s happening at the bargaining table, where we are, and where we need to go.
• Board of Commissioners – Friday, June 28 at 8 a.m. in the Sahale room. More info to come - if you have 10 minutes and can come down on break, if you get off of night shift and can stick around, if you can come on your day off, now is the time to make a statement. You don’t have to speak, you just need to show (but you’re welcome to speak and we have some ideas…). Contact WSNA Organizer Crystal Doll at cdoll@wsna.org or 206/334-8388.
• Become a member and encourage your coworkers to become members.

What Happened At The Table Yesterday

While management and we moved closer to each other in terms of wages, we’re not close enough. We proposed a 9% + $2.25 raise for each step retroactive to 6/1/24, and 4.25% and 3.75% for each of the next two years. Management countered with 9% + $1.25 in the first year only after the Board of Commissioners ratifies the contract, and then delayed some more, and 3.25% and 3.5% for each of the next two years. While management has expressed agreement to fill in ghost steps (that is, their current proposals reflect that they are willing to fill in ghost steps but nothing is final until it’s final), they didn’t agree to our proposal to add new Steps 29 and 30.

Management still won’t agree to year-for-year parity in terms of climbing the wage scale. We want nurses to get a step increase annually regardless of how many hours they work (most hospitals calculate wage steps annually, and others (including Seattle Children's, Virginia Mason, and Prov Everett) have recently negotiated this change into their contracts). Skagit is pushing back, claiming it’s too expensive. However, Skagit (not the Union) decided to keep wages artificially low, necessitating giving sign-on bonuses to balance out last decade’s base wage so that new nurses would come here); Skagit (not the Union) is relying on part-time and per diem nurses to fill its staff but is insisting on inequitable wage advancement. Skagit doesn’t like the price tag that comes with its pattern of refusing to pay appropriately. (Well, refusing to pay its nurses appropriately.)

What’s Next

Currently, we don’t have another bargaining day scheduled. We’re discussing bringing in a state mediator to facilitate discussions. In the meantime, we’re focusing on solidarity.

Questions, need more information? Contact WSNA Organizer Crystal Doll at cdoll@wsna.org or 206/334-8388 or WSNA Nurse Representative Sue Dunlap at  SDunlap@wsna.org.