Your WSNA negotiation team had our eighth bargaining session with Providence St. Luke’s management. WSNA continues to propose that a WSNA local unit representative meet with new hires as part of their new employee orientation so that new hires can understand what it means to work under a union contract and know where they can turn to if they need help.  This language is similar to language that Providence has agreed with WSNA elsewhere.  Yet Providence continues to reject this language at St. Luke’s.

Management also continues to insist that our FTE nurses be subject to daily layoffs, sending them home first before costly travelers.  Dedicated core staff wanting to work are forced to go home and take a hit in the pocketbook when temporary travelers are given protection.  Providence KNOWS that this is not equitable and has long agreed at Sacred Heart and Holy Family to low census agency and traveler nurses before subjecting FTE nurses to mandatory low census period.  Why does Providence continue to insist on treating St. Luke’s nurses as second-class citizens?

WSNA reiterated our proposal for RN Extra Shift Incentive. We are aware that incentive pay is actively being given to other classifications as recently as July 28, 2024. WSNA noted in bargaining that there are too many shifts without charge nurses, with house supervisors taking patients, and in some cases, an increase in patient falls. WSNA remains unclear on why the Employer would offer incentives to a specific group of nurses and not to others. Your officers expressed that it could increase the chances of a registered nurse picking up a shift if there was monetary incentive and registered nurses are the only classification that can perform the charge nurse role.

WSNA maintains our other proposals that we hope management will engage with us on including but limited to

• Preserving health benefits
• Ensuring meaningful participating in staffing decisions
• Increasing pay for certifications held by nurses
• Wage increases
• Increasing paid education leave time

We continue to be very far apart on wages.  FUN FACT:  An RN I at St. Luke’s makes, on average, over 36% less per hour than their counterparts at Holy Family and Sacred Heart.  At the top of the wage scale a St. Luke’s RN makes a staggering 47% less per hour, or over $23 per hour less, than their counterparts at Holy Family and Sacred Heart.

The result of Providence’s insistence on underpaying St. Luke’s nurses is unsurprising and profound.  St. Luke’s continues to rely heavily on expensive traveler nurses as it continues to bleed nurses who find more lucrative work elsewhere.  While Sacred Heart, Holy Family and Kadlec have seen healthy increases in the number of RNs employed, St. Luke’s has lost RNs.

If Providence has the money to spend on travelers, then it has the money to pay its nurses competitive wages.  Providence is in good financial shape.  As of March, it had over $8 billion in unrestricted cash and investments and about 108 days “cash on hand,” which means that it could cover all its operating expenses, including payroll, for 108 days without taking in a single penny of revenue.  There is no reason Providence cannot pay the wages that WSNA is proposing for St. Lukes.  They simply do not want to. Contemplate that when you are working short yet again or without a charge nurse which is critical to ensuring that patients get the care that they need.

The solution is simple to the staffing problem: stop underpaying St. Luke’s nurses.

How YOU can support your bargaining team:

1. On bargaining days- wear your WSNA T shirt, button or sticker to show you stand with your team. Take a picture with your coworkers and send it to your nurse rep Alle Machorro at 206-707-2048.
2. Union membership- Join WSNA today. When you become a member, it shows management that nurses are paying attention
3. Read the latest newsletter on how and when to file an Unsafe Staffing Form. Speak up for your staffing conditions.
4. Attend a bargaining session as an observer. Next bargaining session is this Friday August 2, 2024. Nurses can observe for 4 or 8 hours.

In Solidarity,
Jeff Dubrawski, RN, WSNA Chair
Megan Iata, RN, WSNA Co-Chair
Erika Lee, RN, WSNA Treasurer
Allison White, RN, WSNA Secretary
Noel Wise, RN, WSNA Grievance Officer

Contact your WSNA Nurse Representative Alle Machorro with any questions or to get signed up to observe at amachorro@wsna.org or 206-707-2048.

For more information on how you can get involved: Ryan Rosenkranz, WSNA Organizer, rrosenkranz@wsna.org.