Welcome to the January 2022 update on all things United. In this update we will cover:

• Contract update
• PTO requests
• Staffing update
  • Staffing legislation
  • Staffing committee
  • Conventional, Contingency and Crisis staffing
• COVID update
  • At United
  • Presumptive eligibility
• PeaceHealth around the state
• Coffee hour
• What’s next?
• Closing notes

Contract update

The final approved document should be available and posted online within the next week or so. As you recall, membership voted to maintain contract language and implement improvements in economic items including wages and some premiums. However, these changes needed to be merged into the one large document with the appropriate effective and expiration dates. This requires some great attention to detail to ensure accuracy. This also requires all the officers to affix their signature to the document prior to being posted for all to see. While the waiting is fraying at times, it is imperative that this be completely accurate.

In the meantime, the officers do have copies of the economic changes negotiated and according to the math, the increases in pay and premiums have by all appearances been honored and granted. We are happy to review any queries regarding this and/or possible step placement – just reach out to one of your officers or your nurse rep with your questions.

PTO requests

Your team recently won a grievance regarding PTO accrual. Your contract language is clear that PTO is accrued on hours worked however, PeaceHealth has an internal policy that capped that accrual at 80 hours per pay period. This issue came to light as so many of you worked over and above your FTE and were not accumulating PTO on those hours. Management has agreed that PTO should be accrued on all hours worked per pay period. The maximum ANNUAL PTO cap is still in effect in accordance with the CONTRACT language, but you will accrue faster depending on your hours worked.

The issue of obtaining the time off has arisen again, however. Our stance is that one nurse off per shift per unit is the FLOOR not the ceiling and consideration must be granted by management to honor requests submitted. Especially if time off is requested well enough in advance to afford leadership the opportunity to plan and secure staffing for anticipated staff absences. Nurses who submit their request should anticipate conversation about this if there are more than one request for the same time period, but all reasonable efforts must be made to grant that request. Please contact one of your officers or your nurse rep if you are experiencing challenges getting time off.

Staffing

This is one very hot topic right now across the state and across the nation as the media awareness of nurse staffing issues is apparent. WSNA and your team are attacking this problem from many fronts. You are strongly encouraged, particularly during this legislative session, to watch your inbox for communiques from WSNA and action items you can take to help advance safe staffing standards.

WSNA in collaboration with our union partners UFCW and SEIU who represent other healthcare workers facing the same issues with staffing have legislation in both the house and the senate currently. How can you help?

Pass Safe Staffing Legislation – Take Action Now
Text “WSNA” to 52886
House Bill 1868 and its companion Senate Bill 5751 call on lawmakers in Olympia to:

• Pass safe staffing standards that will protect us from dangerously high patient loads
• Enforce existing overtime and meal and rest break laws
• And hold employers accountable with enhanced enforcement mechanism.

Take action to pass our bill
Text "WSNA" to 52886 to receive the latest action and stay up to date on how you can help. From contacting your legislators to sharing information with your colleagues, actions take less than one minute and have a powerful impact.

For a detailed summary of the legislation use the link button below.

Watch the New York Times video report on Nurse Staffing by using the link button below:

Staffing Committee

Your staffing committee members have been at work developing unit staffing plans and meeting with management to discuss staffing concern forms and problem solve collaboratively. The staffing plans have been approved and submitted as required by law. Please make sure your unit has their staffing plan posted and visible to both the public and staff within your unit. Please remember to complete the online staffing concern form/ ADO for any issues that come up.

There are flyers which can also be posted in your breakroom with the QR code to easily access the form on your mobile device.

Conventional, Contingency and Crisis staffing

You may have heard discussion about this. Many hospitals in the state are in contingency and/or crisis staffing, and the news has been full of reports of national guard and FEMA assistance to hospitals during this time. DOH (Department of Health) has outlined guidelines and recommendation so as well as mandates to facilities to follow in these circumstances. You can access the guidelines using the link button below:

COVID update

We are aware that United has applied for and obtained approval for additional beds at United to help offset the surge of patients not only at United but to help St Joe’s in Bellingham and PeaceIsland in Friday Harbor. We are also aware that an influx of travelers has been obtained to staff these additional beds. Please review the contract language regarding low census rules and floating language. Your team is monitoring the situation closely so let us know if any challenges or issues arise.

Your officers and WSNA members have been very busy during this challenging past two years. We did file a ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) against PeaceHealth Corporate for their misinterpretation and unilateral implementation of lay-ffs related to the COVID vaccine and the Governor's mandate. That is still in process within the legal system. We will update you as soon as we hear more.

You may be aware of the new CDC recommendations for healthcare workers returning to work who have tested positive but may be asymptomatic or have improved symptoms. This was definitely designed to help hospitals who ae experiencing loss of workers due to COVID. However, please note that the recommendations include the verbiage: “…If the worker is willing to return to work…” which implies that each of us are responsible for our own health. If you are not willing, you are not mandated.

Because of this new recommendation, it was determined that N95 masks are the best protection, not only for the employee but for co-workers and patients alike. Under this new recommendation, HCW (health care workers) may be COVID-positive and shedding virus. The PAPR and CAPR used at PeaceHealth does NOT filter out exhaled air. The N95 offers the best protection for filtering out both inhaled and exhaled air. To that end, there should be a plethora of daily use N95 masks for all to wear and you should be fit tested for two masks – a primary and a secondary in case of supply line issues. You may schedule appointments for fit testing through employee health. The supply chain is more than adequate at present – PeaceHealth has done a great job of ensuring you have what you need. If you are lacking anything, please alert your manager and supply to get that addressed quickly. As always, please contact one of the officers or your nurse rep for any issues or concerns.

Presumptive eligibility

It needs to be noted here that according to the Governor’s mandate about healthcare workers who acquire COVID, they are automatically presumed to have contracted it at work due to the nature of the work we all do. That means that COVID entitles the caregiver to workman’s comp. You need to communicate to your manager your intent to file workman’s comp and they will provide you with the appropriate form to file. This is your right, and you should not have to utilize your PTO or other leave banks! Please contact an officer or Sue Dunlap if you are having difficulty with this.

PeaceHealth around the state

WSNA has successfully negotiated many Peacehealth contracts and MOU for facilities throughout the state. Did you know you can see those at any time on our website at www.wsna.org. The local unit sites have a documents bar with links to the current contract and any recent MOUs. Click on “Union News and Contracts" from the main page and select the facility to reach the documents you want to review.

We also held an informational picket at St. John's late last year and they have just ratified their contract. PeaceHealth St Joseph in Bellingham is currently entering their negotiations. And, right around the corner from that, Peace Island will negotiate theirs. Because of our two-year deal, we will be doing negotiations in 2023. Since this is after both Joe’s and Peace Island, this may be to our advantage.

Announcing Coffee Hour

Have some burning questions about work at United? Or questions about your contract? Questions about the latest issues that we are tackling? We will now be having a coffee hour every other month at the Whidbey Coffee in Burlington on Marketplace Blvd near Home Depot. They have a side conference room that will be reserved for United Nurses. The first one will be Feb. 15 at 0800 hours. Because we want to keep this a safe gathering, please register in advance:

Come for a free treat and meet with your nurse rep and/or your WSNA organizer!

What's next?

Leadership

WSNA is planning and promoting attendance to our leadership conference to be held in person in Lake Chelan April 24 through 26. Registration will be forthcoming online at the WSNA website. This is an extremely informative event with lots of CEU, a critical networking opportunity and just a whole lot of fun. Remember you have contractual education funds that may be used to offset some cost.

Closing notes:

Want to help?

We are always looking for anyone interested in helping out your team. Your officers work very hard and put in many volunteer hours on behalf of all the caregivers at PeaceHealth United. Please let us know if you would like to be more involved with your local unit.

We are always looking for unit reps which involves little to no time outside work but does involve a commitment to communicate with the officers and with your co-workers. Full training is provided virtually for this role! A key component is reaching out to your new hired nurse caregivers and being that welcoming contact person on your unit.

In addition, we are looking at establishing a closed group Facebook page so if social media is your thing, please contact us. And say a special thank you to your officers for all they do.

Stay safe and be well!

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Sue Dunlap at sdunlap@wsna.org.