Since late May, your RN bargaining team has been at the table fighting for real solutions to short staffing and unsafe conditions. We've put forward proposals that reflect your priorities—better staffing, competitive pay, and stronger protections. Instead of engaging in meaningful dialogue, management has dismissed our proposals and violated key parts of the contract we already have.

Contract Violations – Grievances Filed

We've filed grievances to address the Hospital's repeated violations of our current CBA:

"Flex Time": Management is low censusing RNs, then expecting them to remain on-call without providing on-call pay. Article 7.6 is clear: RNs are not required to be on-call for all or part of a shift they were scheduled for and then low censused from. Changing start times or forcing nurses to wait by the phone—without compensation—is a contract violation.
In-House Registry Pay: Under Article 12, nurses working in-house registry shifts beyond their FTE are owed 1.5x pay—no 40-hour condition applies. Management is withholding that pay and claiming they can revoke it at will. That's not how our contract works—and we're fighting back.

These issues all point to a pattern: Capital Medical wants more out of nurses—more flexibility, more hours, more patience—without paying more. That's unacceptable.

Capital Medical Center is expanding services and asking more of RNs every day, yet refusing to invest in staff. We've proposed:

Double pay for all extra and vacant shifts
Premium pay increases
Competitive wage increases and removal of ghost steps
Break relief RNs for every unit
Safe staffing ratios and enforceable staffing language
An additional holiday and expanded holiday pay for night shift nurses
Increased PTO and EIB usage from day one

Capital Medical rejected these proposals—while claiming they want to compete with Providence St. Peter. If they're serious, they need to invest in nurses.

Instead, nurses are being told daily about how to take breaks on time—without enough staff to cover those breaks. We've been clear: no break relief RNs and short staffing = no missed and untimely breaks.

Nurses are stretched thin. Morale is low. And instead of investing in the workforce, Capital Medical is rejecting commonsense proposals.

What's Next

We are continuing to push management to take these issues seriously. Our next bargaining session is August 6 and our contract will expire September 30, 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact your bargaining team or Kimberly Starkweather, Union Rep (206) 436-6515.