We need ALL your voices to take back to management!   Your contract expires October 31 and management is not taking your team seriously at the table!  We have proposed a very reasonable increase in wages and at the last session, management came back with a mere 0.5% wage increase from their previous proposal!   This is completely unacceptable and frankly insulting.    We have worked hard with leadership in a collaborative manner.  We recognized the impact of COVID and extended the existing contract out to avoid a negotiation cycle in the middle of the pandemic.  This is a sacrifice you all made for the hospital as a gesture of goodwill and in good faith.  You deserve to be paid and recognized for that sacrifice and effort!

We are sitting down at the table next week on October 24 and 25 to push back some more and fight for stronger wage increases and a solid contract to attract and retain nurses at United.  But we need to show management that ALL United Nurses are together in this fight!   We have two asks of each one of you.  Please wear a WSNA sticker on negotiation days next week!  We will be dropping some off at each unit in the hospital to distribute and wear.  Even non WSNA personnel can show support and wear a sticker – the lab and diagnostic department at PeaceIsland did just that!   Get a small group together and snap a photo with your stickers and text one of your officers next week!

Secondly, we need you to fill out this survey.  It is mostly a free text field because we want to hear compelling stories from each of you about why this compensation package needs to be adequate, and a mere 3.5% wage increase is not even close to that.  Your co-workers are making considerably more at nearby hospitals also within the PeaceHealth organization.  United needs to be competitive!   And you all DESERVE this pay!   Please use this link and complete the survey before Monday October 23 and provide us with your stories.  Details are important and all free text information remains confidential.  Personally, I have heard stories of nurses who need the pay to support basic living expenses, increasing cost of childcare or elder care etc.  Whatever your story is, we want to know.

Your team will continue to fight for all of you and are doing so with firm intent not to settle but to strive for the best!  Remember they are volunteering their time to do this and are working extremely hard right now!   Please say thank you when you see them and let them know how much you appreciate the work and show your support by wearing a sticker and filling out the survey.  Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook for up to the minute information.  Stay tuned for more action items coming your way as we increase the pressure on management to recognize their valuable nurses!

Your Officers:
Co-Chair - Shannon Lauder, BSN, RN
Treasurer - Shawna Smith, BSN, RN
Secretary - Kelsey Sousa, RN
Co-Membership - Robyn Tilton, RN
Co-Membership - Sara Langrock, RN
Grievance - Ausin Bordeleau, RN
Grievance - Holly Swnason, RN
Communications - Katie Owens, RN

Nurse representative: 
Sue Dunlap  sdunlap@wsna.org    and Stephenie Troftgruben  STroftgruben@wsna.org