New Contract Addresses Safety, Staffing, Health Care and Other Issues

Everett, WA – All day today Nurses at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett came together to vote on a proposed Tentative Agreement for a new contract. The votes were just counted. The Nurse voted by 97% to approve the proposed contract.

Some details on top priorities achieved in the new contract include:

Staffing & Safety and a Voice in the Workplace

• Fix broken process (CSI) that Nurses use to report staffing concerns and protect Nurses from harassment when they use this process. Within one month of ratification, Nurse Staffing Committee will convene special taskforce to address CSI process

• A nurse staffing steering committee will be established and maintained in accordance with state law. The Nurse Staffing Steering Committee will oversee unit-based nurse staffing committees, and will adopt a charter for the unit-based nurse staffing committees

• Staffing — within two weeks of ratification an action plan with benchmarks and targets to address chronic/recurring staffing issues will be created. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement on an action plan, they may request expedited mediation with Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). After the evaluation meeting, either party may request a return to an FMCS mediator for expedited assistance

• Allows for issues to be taken to VP of Support Services in writing if not solved in 30 days

• Leave for Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, or Stalking

No Increased Costs for Health Care Plan

• Employer will continue to provide the health plans in 2016 and 2017 with no reduction in the amount of the health incentive funding for any of these plans, no reduction in the Employer’s percentage of premium coverage, and no material changes to the in-network deductibles or in-network out of pocket maximums
• Employer will have to notify the Union of any proposed changes to the plan during the contract term and negotiate any changes

Respect for Nurses’ Union and our Role in the Workplace

• Improves strength of Union in the workplace with more shop stewards, access to Union information at work and allows stewards for Safety and Staffing and new employee orientations
• Membership Clause updated to discourage Management from encouraging membership withdrawal at end of the contract
• Improvements to address issues for Nurses such as putting more limitations on the number of times one can be low censused or floated during a shift

Compensation to Help Recruit and Retain Quality Nursing Staff

• More funds for educational expenses
• And across the board increase in waged by 3+ % for the three years of the contract
• Bonus: Part Time Nurse Bonus: Part time nurses who meet the specific criteria will be eligible for a $500 bonus on the first pay period of January 2017