We are in the home stretch to finish negotiating our new contract! Through 13 long sessions with administration over the course of eight months, your tireless contract negotiation team has pushed through reviewing and updating the entire contract front-to-back, merging the brief 2023 interim contact with the mature contract from 2021-2022, along with adjusting it to align with the County's existing administrative structure and codes.

Once the new contract has been assembled, reviewed and properly formatted, you will receive a summary of the changes that will go into effect, including the new pay scale with retro pay to January 1st of this year. We will notify everyone of a ratification vote date which will take place in-person at the Health Department building. Your team is recommending a "yes" vote. If the contract is ratified, it will then need to be submitted to the County Council for final approval.

Here are some highlights:

• A 4.51% pay increase across the board to all members retroactive to January 1st, 2024.

• Pay increases in 2025 and 2026 of up to 5% each year based on the inflation rate as determined by the Federal government.

• Increase in pay for nurses taking call

• Adding a new top step to the PHN and Lead pay scales (203 and 206) to enhance retention of experienced nurses in the Department.

• Deleting the current step one on the PHN and Lead pay scales so new nurses will start at a higher wage to help with recruitment.

• Maintaining the presence of Non-Discrimination language that the County proposed removing during negotiations.

Your bargaining team,

Susan Babcock and Sue Starr

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your bargaining team or your WSNA nurse rep, Grace Chesterman (gchesterman@wsna.org).