For the past several weeks, WSNA has been advocating on nurses’ behalf to encourage MultiCare to take necessary steps to ensure that staffing is as robust as possible during these extraordinary times when our nation’s health care system is being stretched like never before. Unfortunately, MultiCare has not stepped up in the way necessary to best protect patients and nurses as the COVID surge intensifies.

It is clear that MultiCare is facing critical staffing shortages. The nationwide shortage of nurses means that travel nurses are in short supply, and MultiCare must look to its existing workforce to help fill these staffing shortages. MultiCare also needs to prioritize taking action to retain its dedicated nurses who have been putting themselves and their families at risk, working through unimaginable stress and trauma for the past nine months.

WSNA asked MultiCare to make firm commitments to offer appropriate incentives for nurses to pick up extra shifts to help ensure that units are not operating with critical nursing shortages. Many units are already offering $50/hour incentive pay pursuant to the Letter of Understanding regarding Incentive Shifts. But in other units, incentive pay is not being offered consistently or far enough in advance to ensure that open shifts get filled, resulting in critical understaffing. And in other units, the $50/hour is being offered, but the amount is obviously not enough to incentivize already exhausted nurses to pick up extra shifts.

WSNA has called on MultiCare to commit to paying an extra $100/hour for all open shifts. MultiCare has refused to commit to any amount, and insists that it will continue to exercise its discretion to offer incentive pay in the manner it see fits, under the Incentive Pay LOU. We have expressed our extreme disappointment in this position. A firm commitment to offering a set amount of incentive pay for all open shifts would guarantee a consistent, uniform approach that ensures that as many staffing holes get filled as possible, avoiding the unit-to-unit discrepancies nurses are reporting. It would also show that MultiCare respects nurses and is willing to make the same type of financial commitment to current staff that they would otherwise make to travel nurses.

At this point, negotiators for MultiCare and WSNA have had multiple sessions. Despite WSNA’s efforts to emphasize the dire situations nurses have been reporting for months and that are only getting worse, management is unwilling to enter into an agreement to commit to any new measures to address this emergent situation. WSNA will continue to press on management to step up and make a commitment that will show it is serious about fixing this staffing crisis.

In the meantime, please keep filling out ADOs – this is one of the best ways that you can make your voice heard and ensure management gets the message that they must do more. ADOs are also important for creating documentation when you are put in an unsafe situation and can help protect your professional license.

Many of you have questions about what to do if you are exposed, what types of benefits are available to you, etc. WSNA will continue to work diligently to provide you with more information as it becomes available, but in the meantime, check out WSNA’s COVID FAQ page. Contact your local unit officers or your nurse representative, Brenda Balogh, RN, BSN, at bbalogh@wsna.org and by phone at 206-575-7979, Ext. 3061 for any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Your WSNA Local Unit Officers,

Danielle O’Toole, Chair - CJ Johnston, Co-Chair - Liz Leske, Secretary - Charlene Sole, Treasurer - Mallory Gregoire, Grievance Officer - Gena Houghton,. Grievance Officer - Michelle Stevenson, Grievance Officer - Brenda Bowhay, Grievance Officer - Cherie Griffith, Grievance Officer - Ally Bure, Grievance Officer