We gave management the balance of our proposals today including significant pay increases to bring our wages up to market and increases to many premiums and differentials. SJMC is far behind in compensation compared to other hospitals in the area. We also proposed new language that would reduce how much nurses have to pay toward premium and negotiate over the quality of the plans we currently have. Our team stressed that pay and benefits are critical to getting and keeping nurses working at SJMC, especially given that hospitals right near us provide better compensation packages.

One of the subjects of discussion today was parking and safety. Several bargaining team members shared stories of feeling unsafe and threatened when coming into work. Management responded that nurses can call for an escort if they feel unsafe to walk to or from their vehicle. We are asking nurses to do this this: when you feel unsafe to walk to or from your vehicle, call for an escort (and then take note of what time you call and what time an escort arrives, if they do). We want to see if the is an effective method of providing safety to nurses coming to and from work, particularly at off-hours.

Long time WSNA leader believes we all are a part of the solution

Meet Sally Budack from SADU. Aside from raising 2 children together, she and her husband have been enjoying flying giant kites together for years. It’s fun to fly them at the ocean side. They also ride motorcycles together.

“I love my job. I get to give back to people and improve the quality of life of people in our community. The patients we see come in because there’s a problem and it’s great to help patients change that. Everyone is so different that each case is unique. So work is always interesting.

One of my proudest moments was when a patient gave me a note thanking me. They said that when they first arrived, their stress level was so high and that I helped them calm down so that they could go into surgery at peace. This reduces many risks during surgery and ensures good outcomes.

I’ve been a nurse for 45 years, 31 of those years have been right here in our SADU. For all of those 31 years, I’ve been a member of the WSNA bargaining team and active with our union. It’s important that we are able to speak up for ourselves. I’ve learned that the union isn’t some office somewhere. I am WSNA. That’s true of each of us. Without our involvement, it doesn’t work. We need each other to make this work. Thank you to each nurse who raises their voice with me and WSNA.”

In Solidarity,
Your negoti­ating team; Dian Davis, Linda Burbank, Yunna Flenord, Brandon Hardaway, Katy Sargent, Mathew McGuire, Shelly Pollock, Chelsey Roos, Emily D’Anna, Ken Richardson, Sally Budack, Naomi Kincade

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