Day 5 of contract negotiations is complete and WSNA was able to secure one single tentative agreement (TA) on how a nurse’s regular rate of pay is defined. Providence St. Luke’s continues to reject multiple proposals from WSNA including.

• Ensuring a fully staffed float pool.
• Having an equitable approach to pay for work on a holiday.
• Ensuring that nurses have appropriate training and orientation
• Preserving health benefits
• Ensuring meaningful participating in staffing decisions
• Increasing pay for certifications held by nurses
• Allowing PTO cash out
• Increasing paid education leave time

WSNA heard from management that they don’t share an understanding of a need for a workplace violence (WPV) committee. Administration shared that workplace violence concerns are captured daily in the Safety Huddle and that they maintain processes for staff feedback related to workplace violence. WSNA, as an organization, believes in proactively working to prevent workplace violence and has established these committees successfully at other Providence ministries. We believe every nurse should be protected from WPV, have a pathway for reporting, and have debriefs and follow up after reporting.

We received a wage counter that is roughly half of what was secured within the Spokane Providence ministries in the first year of the contract. Administration shared they felt it was a strong first proposal. We are less concerned about having strong first proposals and maintain that it is where we end with those proposals that matter. There is MUCH more work to be done.  Nurses at Providence St. Luke’s should receive wages that recruit and retain and are competitive with other facilities in town. Administration continues to insist, with no real justification, that Providence St. Luke’s nurses be paid far less than their colleagues at Sacred Heart and Holy Family. Moreover, administration has continued to propose different wage increases for different classifications. WSNA has proposed the same across the board (ATB) increase for all classifications.

Your bargaining team for this session included nurse observers! Chelsea Shanda and Tanya Smith were present to observe bargaining. A HUGE THANK YOU to these nurses for giving their time to support this process to earn a fair contract. We believe that all our nurses should be afforded the opportunity to observe this process. Administration routinely negotiates with the negotiating team, but we work on all the nurses’ behalf. Are you interested in observing contract bargaining? We are recruiting nurses to observe in either 4-hour sessions or 8-hour sessions. Anyone attending an 8-hour session will be provided with lunch and a t- shirt. Our next sessions are June 11 and June 21.

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.