Historic Agreement Reached for Seattle Children's Nurses

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https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/09/09/historic-agreement-reached-for-seattle-childrens-nurses/

Historic Agreement Reached for Seattle Children’s Nurses

On Monday, Sept. 5, a historic contract went into effect for the 1,700-person nursing team at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH). After 12 bargaining sessions, a 1,200+-person picket line outside the hospital, and three mediation sessions over five months, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) and SCH finally reached an agreement.

What makes this new union contract historic is the wage increase. Over the next year, nurses will get a $10 per hour increase across the board, starting with a $6 an hour wage increase in Year 1 and then a $4 wage increase 11 months later. Over the three-year period negotiated, the base rate will have increased by 31%.

The new contract will result in a higher-percentage wage increase for newer nurses compared to more senior nurses. It will also result in hefty wage increases for anyone who is or was working part-time as a nurse. According to Travis Elmore Nelson, nurse representative of the WSNA Bargaining Team, it was of utmost importance to use an equity lens when surveying wages across the board. “We were really looking at how newer nurses — and a lot of our newer nurses tend to be People of Color — have not been able to stay at the bedside because they make so much less than our senior nurses.” With the turnover rate of nurses at SCH rising from 4.96% to 19.24% in the last two years, from December 2020 to January 2022, Nelson is hoping that the wage increase will help in the retention of newer nurses moving forward.

Aside from the wage increase, no major takeaways happened during negotiations. Other notable improvements include expanding leave of absence policies for “birth of a child leave” (formerly “maternity leave”) from 3 months up to 6 months (or more with manager approval), holiday work now accruing double-time when a minimum is met, and Juneteenth officially being declared a holiday in their contract.

In response to the contract being ratified, Jeanine Takala, Seattle Children’s spokesperson, told the Emerald in an email, “Seattle Children’s is pleased that our WSNA-represented nurses voted to ratify the new three-year contract that delivers on our commitment to lead the local market in nurse compensation. The new contract, in place through Aug. 31, 2025, includes measures that will enhance safety, retention, and recruitment, and recognizes the dedication, professionalism and quality of the 1,700-person nursing team at Seattle Children’s as well as the extraordinary circumstances they have been working under throughout the pandemic.”

Even though the WSNA bargaining team was able to procure this historic agreement, Elmore says there’s a lot more that nurses want to see done better to attract and retain nurses for the long run. “We think there needs to be some modifications to the culture in Seattle Children’s,” he said. “We know, for instance, there being 15 Black nurses is not acceptable. …

(15 Black nurses out of 1700.)