WSNA was notified this week that a major restructure/rebid is taking place in all of the Med-Surg units for all that are not already on 12-hour shifts. These include: 2-South, 4-South, 7^th Floor, and 9^th Floor. This change has not been presented to the Nurse Staffing Committee.

We have demanded a meeting with management to inquire what the rationale is and what business reason is driving this drastic change.

Per WSNA contract article 8.1.1, the hospital may be violating the contract.

8.1.1 If a nursing unit does not now have ten (10) or twelve (12) hour shifts, a majority vote of the unit would be required prior to implementing ten (10) or twelve (12) hour shift schedules for the unit on an involuntary basis.

While some nurses may welcome the change, not all nurses have the stamina to work 12-hour shifts. More and more, nursing research shows that 12-hour shifts may lead to increased nurse burnout and job dissatisfaction.

We pointed out the following to hospital administration and will be addressing this.

The financial implications of a decrease in FTE can be drastic. Nurses are scared about potential pay cuts if there aren’t enough 0.9 FTEs. Being forced from a 1.0 to a 0.9 FTE, or 0.8 to 0.75 FTE will affect your wages. Losing your evening shift differential will impact many.

Residents who are in their repayment period signed contracts and bid on patterns that stipulated work hours and FTE. Those who are unable to continue due to family or other obligations are scared at the prospect of having to repay the hospital the full amount.

Everyone would likely agree that leaving a child in daycare for more than 12.5 hours plus travel time is never in a family’s best interests and interferes with brain development in children under the age of 3. This also creates an increased financial burden for having to utilize longer hours in childcare. Families with children in daycare/childcare are by law limited to 10 hours, but the law makes “exceptions” due to work hours and travel time. However, you took this 8-hour position because it worked for you and your family’s schedule. Probably most of you have made plans around your work schedules. Some of you may be in school or involved in your children’s sports activities, and have been doing well at maintaining a positive work-life balance.

We understand further that management traveled to Hawaii and hired nurses under contract. During staff meetings, currently employed nurses were told that the new nurses had signed contracts for a 0.9 FTE. WSNA believes that all new hires should have been held until the rebids were complete to offer currently employed nurses optimal choices. For those nurses coming in as new hires, seniority must be factored and currently employed nurses cannot be displaced. We have requested copies of the contracts signed by these newly hired nurses.

For those that simply cannot work 12-hour shifts, we will be demanding that the hospital allow you to select a vacant position. We have requested a list of all units that currently have 8-hour shifts. If there are no 8’s and you have no other options, we will demand that the hospital allow you to select the option to be laid off. This would include access to unemployment.

Please follow the directive to submit your rebid selection so that you don’t miss the timeline, November 26, 2019.

We have made an extensive information request to continue to investigate this and to advocate on your behalf. We will be in touch as soon as we learn any new information.

Please continue to send your questions and concerns to Hanna Welander, WSNA Nurse Rep at hwelander@wsna.org or call (206) 575-7979, Ext. 3035.