We met on August 23-24 for our 8^th and 9^th bargaining sessions.

With deep concern about ongoing safety issues at the hospital – and nothing that indicates that the hospital is taking any meaningful steps to address them – we presented a comprehensive proposal on the 23^rd to address some of the woefully inadequate existing safety standards.  We proposed multiple steps that Virginia Mason should take including limiting public access (management thought there were only two public entrances!), metal detectors, dogs, and an effective and responsive security team. These are safety measures that other hospitals have enacted after staff have been seriously harmed and are recommendations by the American Hospital Association of which Common Spirit is a constituent. We urged Virginia Mason to take action, and not wait to react.

We were deeply disappointed (and outraged, frankly) when management responded with a counterproposal that came nowhere near what is needed to keep nurses and patients safe at Virginia Mason and attempted to relegate this critical work to an ineffectual committee that has met only once since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. That is, management proposed no action and no commitment, just an advisory “task force” that can make suggestions that hospital “leadership” can take or leave.

Nurse observers attended both days.  Two nurses told horrifying and powerful stories of the violence they experienced firsthand at the bedside. This put human faces and lent gravitas to our proposal, and underscored that Virginia Mason *must* act now.

We also proposed material improvements to staffing language, and we went unit by unit to figure out exactly what staff is needed in each unit. Our baseline proposal was to mandate freeing charge nurses from patient assignments, adding a free flex (another RN on hand to help with patient care), and adequate break coverage so that each nurse can get all of their rest and meal breaks.

We continue to bring up spot pay to incentivize our nurses because we are so short-staffed.  It’s an urgent matter that has an easy, albeit temporary fix.  We are bargaining for longer-term solutions to make our hospital a great place to work again.  We cannot afford to lose any more nurses!

Want to be an observer?  SIGN UP TO BE AN OBSERVER!

Our next sessions are scheduled for August 30-31.  Please sign up to be an observer in support of your bargaining team.  Here’s how:  Text Crystal at (206) 334-8388 with your name and unit.  We will let you know the arrival time before each session.

!ACTION ALERT!

Be a part of the solution in 3 easy steps:

1. Sign the safety petition and get 3 friends to do it too.
   To sign it, just contact any member of our negotiating team or our WSNA Organizer Crystal Doll (206) 334-8388
2. It is time to address safety concerns NOW. Take a photo with this sign and get your friends to do it too:  Sound the alarm for patient safety,  Together we can make them listen
3. Stay informed. Join the virtual weekly update meeting every Thursday at 6 p.m.

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 234 561 674 473
Passcode: wD838d

Download Teams | Join on the web

Or call in (audio only)

+1 206-485-2614,,279017668#   United States, Seattle

(888) 313-0615,,279017668#   United States (Toll-free)

Phone Conference ID: 279 017 668#

Become a member, Strengthen our position, our union, and nursing as a whole!

Find us on Instagram, post your solidarity pics!
https://www.instagram.com/vmfhbargaining_unit

Join our private Facebook group!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/virginiamasonrns

In solidarity,
The Bargaining Team
Kim Adekoya, ER; Sam Asencio, WSNA Treasurer and OR; Martha Bermeo, C8; Hannah Collins-Lewis, C9; Jane Hill Littlejohn, WSNA Chair and Resource Nurse; Art Laycock, IV; Kaylyn Lesser, ER Aaron Persinger, C17; Michael Salters, CCU; Kim Travis-Carter, ED; Donna Watts, Birth Center; Allison Wortman, J5 Recovery

Questions or comments, please contact your Nurse Representative, Barbara Friesen bfriesen@wsna.org.