At this time of Thanksgiving the nurses at SJMC rise to the top of things to be thankful for. Nursing is the number one most respected profession for a reason. Nurses are incredibly intelligent, caring and more often than not put others before themselves. Sadly, this admirable work ethic has been exploited throughout the history of nursing and continues today. The past two years of the pandemic have only added to the mental and physical workload heroic nurses have always endured. The work environment and contract negotiations continue to reflect the mistreatment of nurses at St. Joe's.

Hundreds and hundreds of nurses have joined in actions to try to get CommonSpirit to walk their talk about becoming the employer of choice. Nurses have worn T-shirts and stickers, signed petitions, and delivered them to management, cast ballots to say not good enough do more do better, participated in the informational picket, and at this time are doing an assessment for a strike.

Our local community members and leaders expressed at our informational picket how grateful they are for SJMC nurses and the respect they have for you. WSNA staff want to be sure you know how incredibly thankful we are for you too and what an honor it is to have been chosen as the union to serve and represent you. We will continue to follow your direction and stand beside you to fight as hard and long as needed!

A word from our bargaining team about strike assessments

Emily D’Anna has 4 pets: 2 cats and 2 dogs. The cats love each other and the dogs tolerate each other. The cats are aptly named Alyosha and Zosima (for you avid readers out there). Emily is new to the WSNA bargaining team from FBC. It’s her first time negotiating, but having worked as a traveler and at different union represented facilities, she has always valued the union. Once when she was hired on at the incorrect step and raised it with her manager, they tried to make her out to be unreasonable for wanting to be paid accurately. “Why do you care so much about it? Why are you making this such a big deal?” The union worked with her to correct it, winning 3 years of back pay for Emily.

Here at St. Joe’s Emily joined the WSNA effort to win a fair contract in 2019, moving strike assessments during that contract fight. Here is the message she’d like to share with us now:

“3 years ago, I was sitting where you are and I decided to get involved because I was unhappy with where our contract was at. Our bargaining team is working so hard at the table to make progress in order to keep excellent nurses here. We need your help to assess our coworkers. As a bargaining team member, we need to know exactly what nurses are willing to do so we know how much power we have at the table. With this power, we can push management to improve their offer. I want you to know how important this work is. Thank you so much for everything you’re doing. Hang in there. This is a lot of work, but it will be worth it.” - Emily

We need nurses to help have 1:1 conversations with coworkers about the strike. Join the strike assessment team!

Next virtual training:
Monday, Nov. 29
8-9 a.m.
Noon-1 p.m.

To sign up: Glamonte@wsna.org

Is your manager crossing the line?

As things heat up at the table, managers are starting to react in kind. We are hearing reports of all types of questionable behavior all over the hospital. Here's a TIP on what to keep an eye out for and protect your rights:

T: Threats - "If you go on strike, then [insert negative consequence here]." Managers cannot threaten nurses for exercising their union rights and engaging in the effort to improve our working conditions.

I: Interrogation - Managers can NOT ask us questions about our union activity. This includes the strike.
So no to "what do you think about the strike?"
No to "who else is in favor of a strike?"
And definitely no to "have you signed the strike petition yet?"

P: Promises - "If you don't go on strike, then [insert benefit here]. Managers cannot essentially bribe nurses in an attempt to keep us from engaging with WSNA as our union.

S: Surveillance - Managers cannot track nurses union activity in any way. This means no watching, eavesdropping, photographing, videoing, or keeping lists of nurses doing WSNA activity, including strike assessments.

Hey SJMC! Make good on broken promises!

Recently management offered us a $600 bonus for extra weekend shifts. They tried to go around our RN WSNA negotiating team instead of working with them at the table to address all of our collective concerns around staffing. To add insult to injury, they didn't pay many of us who stepped up and did this work. Some of us have sadly joked that we didn't know we were signing up for a part time job to chase the $600 bonus. Shame on them for not paying staff for what they told us we would get.

WSNA has filed a grievance on this matter. But meanwhile, we need nurses to join in this effort to prove a point on this issue. If you worked a weekend shift and had or are having trouble getting paid for it, print and fill out this Invoice for Broken Promises and drop it off at HR this week! Send a message that they need to resolve this issue and make good on their broken promises!

In Solidarity,
Your Negoti­ating Team: Dian Davis, Linda Burbank, Yunna Flenord, Brandon Hardaway, Katy Heffernan, Matthew McGuire, Shelly Mead, Chelsey Roos, Emily D’Anna, Ken Richardson, Sally Budack, Naomi Kincade

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Repre­sen­ta­tive Barbara Friesen at bfriesen@wsna.org.