WE HAVE A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT! 

Our bargaining team recommends a YES vote!

After more than 12 hours at the bargaining table, your bargaining team has secured a strong new contract for 2025-2028. This agreement delivers major wins that will make St. Clare’s a safer, fairer, and better place to work.

Ratification information TBD – tentative electronic voting dates: February 20-21.

Ratification voting will be entirely electronic. To vote you must be a member in good standing. Ballots will be sent to your PERSONAL EMAIL. Make sure your email address is up to date!

We will send out a redline copy (that is, a copy of the contract that shows all the edits) of the full agreement soon. In the meantime, here are the highlights of this hard-fought victory:

Wages: Significant Increases for All Nurses

• Year 1: 4.75% increase plus a $1.50 per hour boost to the wage scale
• Year 2 (2026): 4% increase for all steps
• Year 3 (2027): 4% increase for all steps
• Retro pay back to February 2, 2025, for this year’s wage increases if the contract is ratified at the first vote (no guarantees of retro pay if the vote is “no”)
• These wages make St. Clare Hospital Nurses some of the best paid nurses in the region, and along with St. Joe’s, the highest paid 25-year nurses in the state!
• See the wage scale at the bottom of this email (same as SJMC)

Premiums and Differentials: More Pay for Your Hard Work

• Night shift differential increased to $5.50 per hour
• Weekend premium increased to $4.00 per hour
• Preceptor premium increased to $2.00 per hour
• Charge Nurse premium increased to $3.50 per hour
• Standby pay increased to $6.00 per hour

Break Relief Nurses: Real Solutions for Safe Staffing

• Creation of a Break Relief Nurse pool with five new four to eight-hour opportunity shifts per shift, every day—adding a minimum of 40 hours of break relief daily
• Five FTEs of dedicated Break Nurse positions posted by February 1, 2026
• Three additional FTEs of dedicated Break Nurse positions posted by February 1, 2027

Hospital Resource Pool: A Better System with More Pay

• The Hospital Resource Pool (HRP) is now formalized in the contract
• Nurses including per diem nurses who have met availability requirements, can pick up HRP shifts
• Nurses working HRP opportunity shifts will receive a $5.00 per hour premium

Justice for Internationally Experienced Nurses

For decades, nurses with experience outside the U.S. and Canada were only given 50 percent credit for their experience. This contract ends that discriminatory practice.

• Affected nurses will be fully credited for their experience and moved up the wage scale accordingly
• If you are impacted, contact your nurse rep at JRichardson@wsna.org to start the process

Fixing Low Census: More Control, Less Disruption

• Low census roster control returns to the units, reducing out-of-order call-offs
• Low census is now date-based instead of hours-based

Workplace Safety: Stronger Protections for Nurses

• A new weapons detection system will be installed in the Emergency Department within six months
• Card-swipe locked doors will be installed on all units by the end of the contract
• Stronger contract language requiring the hospital to take nurse safety seriously

Equity and Fairness in Scheduling

• Equity-Based Call: New language ensuring fair distribution and transparency of call shifts and equitable awarding of unavailability requests
• Equity Justice Committee: A new committee to hold St. Clare’s accountable in addressing workplace inequities

These are just some of the victories we fought for and won together. This is a contract that prioritizes fair pay, safe staffing, and workplace protections.

We strongly encourage you to vote YES. Keep an eye out for more details on when and how to vote. If you have any questions, contact your nurse rep at JRichardson@wsna.org.

Together, we won this fight. Together, we will continue to build a better St. Clare’s.

In Solidarity, 
Your Bargaining Team, 
Clair Korrell, Co-Chair  
Devon Tallman, Co-Chair  
Savvy Baily, Interim Treasurer  
Jessica Cook, Co-Secretary  
Nikki Wright, Co-Secretary  
Erin Stoner, Grievance Officer  
Tiffany Stephansky, Grievance Officer  
Brandi Poggemann, Membership Officer  
Molly McKinney, Membership Officer