On July 27, we held a banner and leaflet action at the Everett Marina Concert Series. We spoke with community members and asked them to send an email to the Providence General Foundation-Everett. The email calls out the staffing crisis at the Hospital and demanding that the Foundation hold Hospital Administration accountable for their lack of collaboration around staffing issues at the bargaining table. Please encourage your friends and family to send an email to the Foundation:

>> Share this link! Stand with Providence Everett RNs

Also members of the Everett City Councilmembers and Snohomish County Board of Health will be writing a letter to Hospital Administration and the Foundation supporting our contract negotiations! The community and elected officials support our efforts for safe staffing! 

Response to the CNO’s email: On August 1st we will have a second day of contract negotiations with a federal mediator. Our first mediation session resulted in a rejection on our staffing language and a wage proposal which still puts us dollars behind Swedish, Overlake, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Evergreen. A 19.4% increase (divided in multiple increases from 2023 to 2026) will not be enough to remain competitive with other hospitals in the area! 

It has also come to our attention that Hospital Management has published their contract proposals and indicated if the proposals are tentative agreements (meaning Management and the nurse bargaining team have mutually agreed). We believe this is a tactic to frustrate the bargaining process and cause confusion. We will be sending out a version of our full proposal next week so nurses can read through all of our proposals and we can discuss them together. 

WA State Sick Leave accruals: Under WA’s Paid Sick Leave law, employers are supposed to record WA State sick time. Although PRMCE nurses accrue PTO and EIB, you should have a line item on your paystub or on the employee portal showing how much PTO is considered “WA State Sick Leave.” We have asked Providence to comply with the law so nurses know how much protect sick leave time they have available, but Providence has denied our request. We filed a grievance in May to resolve this issue and will also address this issue in negotiations.  

Incentive Pay: In the past the Hospital and UFCW 3000 agreed that nurses would receive time and a half or double time pay if they worked an extra shift beyond their FTE. An issue that arose is that nurses who called out sick and used “protected sick leave”, per the WA Paid Sick Leave law, were denied incentive pay. In February 2023, we told Providence that this was discriminatory, and these nurses should receive the incentive pay. Providence originally rejected our request but has changed their position. They are now providing incentive pay to nurses who call out sick for an extra shift, but use “protect sick time.” 

We are unsure how long Providence will continue providing incentive pay but we are requesting at the bargaining table that incentive pay be part of the union contract. Currently Providence Centralia and Providence St. Peter’s (Olympia) have incentive pay in their contract. 

We need to show PRMCE that we are serious about our proposals and are willing to strike! If you have not already signed the strike pledge, please click on the link below!

>> Sign the Strike Pledge! PRMCE RN - I Promise to Take Action

Also encourage your coworkers to update their information:

>> Update Your Information!

Below are the current articles that are open and our last session prior to mediation proposals: 

Article 2 Union Matters—union security, Providence must provide personal emails for each nurse (if available) 

Article 4 Union Representation—union representatives will have access to all unit conference rooms, Providence will ensure that two bargaining committee members per unit will have their shifts covered in order to attend negotiations 

Article 6 Employment Practices—a nurse may request for a written warning to be removed from their file if the discipline is 18 months old, documented coachings/counselings shall be removed from a nurse’s file, upon request, after 9 months

Staffing—additional $5/ hour per shift to nurses if their unit falls below the staffing plan for their unit plus major improvements to the staffing committee agenda like reviewing nurse exit interviews and addressing acute staffing issues immediately

Article 7 Seniority—a new list for skill departments to reflect current department breakdown, Providence will notify nurses of recall via email and mail

Article 8 Hours of Work and Overtime—double time pay for nurses on standby on holidays, travelers will be low censused first and then agency nurses, 12 break relief nurses, per diem nurses minimum shift scheduling

Article 9 Compensation—Nurses will need to work 1,664 hours instead of 1,872 hours to advance to their next step increase. $3.00 Evening shift differential and $6.50 Night shift differential. After 24 months of working on third shift, nurses shall receive an additional $3/ hour in addition to their shift differential. Standby on-call pay of $7/ hour. Float Pool/Resource Team pay of $5. Increased premium for preceptors to $2.00 to train the nurses we desperately need. Expanded holiday pay for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for night shift nurses. $800 Standby Bonus for nurses who work more than 500 standby hours each calendar year, $1100 standby bonus for nurses who work more than 800 standby hours in a half year, $1250 for nurses who work more than 1100 standby hours in a half year

Wages—Step increments between steps would be an average of 2.5%. Currently the step increments vary between step. Increase base to Swedish’s base rate of $42.22 on June 1, 2023. The new wage table would range from $42.22 (Base)  80.55 (Step 35). November 1, 2023 8.25% increase, 2024 5% increase, 2025 6.5% increase

Article 15 Committees—Staffing Committee would reflect the new staffing law, which means if the Hospital violates this article we can file a grievance and take the grievance to arbitration if necessary. Additionally if the staffing plan is not adhered to by a margin of 85% and a nurse works on their day off, .9 to 1.0 FTE nurses shall receive double time pay and .5 to .89 FTE nurses shall receive 1.5 time pay for all time worked up to 40 hours (these nurses will receive double time for work beyond 40 hours)

Article 16 Nursing Education/License—Increasing education leave hours to 40 (prorated by FTE), increasing education dollars, and tuition reimbursement of $5,250 for all nurses with a .75 FTE or above

PRMCE RN Bargaining Team—Trevor Gjendem, Juan Stout, Carrie Rimel, Kelli Johnson, Stephanie Sausman, Julie Byum, Kristen Crowder (not pictured) (Top left to bottom right) 

Upcoming Actions

August 1—Negotiations with Providence Everett Management 

August 3—5:30pm to 6:30pm Leaflet Action at Everett Marina Concert Series (park on Grand Ave or Everett Marina paid parking)

August 6—Everett Farmer’s Market Leaflet Action 10:30am to 12pm (meet on Pacific and Wetmore) 

August 16—Community Townhall with Nurses 5pm to 6pm Everett Labor Temple 

August 17—AquaSox Game Leaflet Action 6pm to 7pm- Nurses are encouraged to bring friends/family (free tickets will be available to the game after the leaflet, please RSVP with Anthony Cantu 206-436-6566) 

August 27—Everett Farmer’s Market 10:30am to 12pm (meet on Pacific and Wetmore)