Providence St. Peter Hospital Professionals - Bargaining Update

On Tuesday, November 4, our Professionals Bargaining Team met with management for the seventh session of union contract negotiations.

At Wednesday's session, we continued the productive exchange of the remaining sections of our contract, reaching a handful of new agreements including language around Per Diem workers (more specifically regarding the wage differential in lieu of retirement and health care benefits), increased job protections for workers facing layoffs or workforce reductions, outlining the order in which workers will be placed on low census, and we even reached agreement on a handful of position's wages!

While progress was significant for a number of newly represented positions at PSPH, there were also a couple of positions whose Employer-proposed rates we strongly felt did not meet the wages that nearby Union professionals are earning. As such, our team continued to hold firm that Providence increase these scales to reduce staffing shortages and to meet the demand of the highly competitive market. As such, our team felt that it was beneficial to provide management with the wage scales we're referencing to inform our position. While we did not receive management's response to our proposal before negotiations concluded for the day, we are dedicated to making sure all Professionals at Providence St. Peter Hospital are paid fairly for the lifesaving work we perform every day.

We're looking forward to hearing back from Providence on Monday, November 10—when we are scheduled to be back at the table!

If you have questions about ongoing first contract negotiations, please reach out to a member of our Union Bargaining Team or call our Union Rep Madison Derksema at (206) 436-6603.

Bargaining Team: Rita Palmquist, Case Manager MSW; Elise Steinmetz, Physical Therapist; Sydney Lobdell, Dietitian; Kristine Pepper, Clinical Pharmacist; Brenda Arend, Speech Language Pathologist; Diana Herr, Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist

Providence St. Peter Hospital RN - Bargaining Update

On Wednesday July 23, & Thursday, July 24, our bargaining team representing the registered nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital met with management for our ninth and tenth sessions. We began the week with cautious optimism, as management indicated they would finally respond to our proposed Staffing Article, which we first presented on April 29. After months of silence on this critical issue, we were ready to engage in meaningful dialogue.

Unfortunately, the employer's response did not meet the urgency or seriousness of the staffing concerns we've raised throughout this bargain. Rather than offering meaningful improvements or new ideas, their proposal largely repackaged existing language already in our current contract, which outlines existing committees currently operating at our hospital.

Providence's response consisted of various revisions to the existing Nurse Practice and Staffing Committee Letter of Understanding (LOU)—a committee whose operation predates the 2022 Hospital Staffing Committee legislation. Management proposed separating some current contract language related to the Unit Based Council and Professional Governance workgroups into two distinct LOUs. These changes do little—if anything—to improve what we see as the structural causes of unsafe staffing, or give us any feedback on the staffing language our team put so much hard work and critical thinking into.

The lack of direct feedback on our Staffing Article, which would provide our team with the opportunity to appropriately consider and modify our proposal to aim for actionable solutions, prompted us to request this directly when we met with management later on July 24.

A summary of our union's latest Staffing Article:

• Staffing Ratios: Minimum RN-to-Patient ratios that must be maintained at all times, including during meal and rest breaks. The proposal includes flexibility to adjust the number of RN staff to exceed minimum staffing levels to account for acuity and intensity, consistent with the unit's staffing plan.

• Enforcement: When ratios are not satisfied, nurses will be paid a premium of $5.00/hr for that specific shift and unit.

  • The Employer will send a quarterly report to the union of total premiums paid under the above.

• Float Pool: The Employer will maintain a dedicated float pool equaling 5.0% of the total RN workforce at Providence St. Peter.

• Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan: When there are greater than 20 boarded patients in the ED, and greater than 20 patients in the ED waiting room for longer than one hour, the contingency staffing plan goes into effect. The employer will make all reasonable efforts to assign five additional RNs to patient care. This plan remains in place until both numbers fall below 20 for no less than a continuous hour.

• Break Relief Nurses: The Employer will post job openings for and make reasonable efforts to hire the equivalent of 13.0 FTE Break Relief nurses within 21 days of contract ratification. Break Relief nurses will assume patient care assignments for another RN so they may take an uninterrupted meal and/or rest break. Break Relief RNs will not have a patient care assignment of their own so they can appropriately cover the assignment. Furthermore, Break Relief RNs shall only be assigned to take patients that they have the appropriate qualifications and competencies to care for.

  • A "break buddy" model (or otherwise similar but differently titled system) will not be considered an appropriate substitute or replacement for staffing unencumbered break relief nurses.

Management's feedback on our Staffing Article suggested concerns that a few elements of our proposal—namely the minimum staffing ratios and Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan—might be too restrictive, implying that such standards could limit their flexibility to address staffing issues proactively, or to add nurses before the triggering conditions are met. Our team remains open to dialogue that ensures solutions are both safe and workable, and so we appreciate this dialogue. However, our stated goal is to set a standard for the minimums on safe staffing—and the capacity for management to act sooner if they see fit is written plainly in our Staffing Article's opening paragraph.

As a follow up to this discussion, we compiled a number of the studies, articles, and other resources we referenced while drafting our proposal and provided them to management in the hopes of substantiating the contents. These included Washington State Public Policy, which compares and contrasts different state hospital staffing plans; Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios from California State Law; staffing laws in effect in other nearby states; the American Nurses Association, who conclude that costs to individual hospitals can be higher when it is understaffed; and regional collective bargaining agreements which directly state minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

We look forward to continuing the conversation with management on solutions to staffing.

"We have a duty to advocate for our patients; we feel like once again, the responses we got from management come with no immediate action, no new concepts, and overall, just fell flat."

— Julia Douglas

"Our team put a lot of work and thoughtfulness into our approach to the staffing language proposal, and what we presented to Providence takes into consideration things we can do outside of the Hospital Staffing Committee—to be proactive while scheduling nurses ahead of time, but also having a plan of action when staffing reaches critical levels; like the Emergency Department Contingency Staffing Plan. If their concern is that this mechanism might go into effect too late, we wish they would incorporate that into their counter, rather than just reject it entirely..."

— Ashley McBride

"The lack of an appropriate number of staff to care for patients on other units impacts the entire hospital—even units that aren't themselves suffering from a staffing issue, and because then RNs are being floated."

— Andy Dusablon
 

Contact Action Team Meeting

August 7
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Virtual Meeting

Meeting ID: 858 1875 0093
Passcode: 3000

In-Person Location

Washington State Labor Council Building - Olympia

• 3rd Floor Conference Room

• 906 Columbia St SW #330, Olympia, WA 98501

• Front door code: 3413

Sign the Strike Pledge >>

Providence St. Peter Hospital RN - Progress Made: A Successful Day of Bargaining!

Providence St. Peter Hospital RN
Progress Made: A Successful Day of Bargaining!

On Wednesday, July 9, our bargaining team, representing registered nurses at Providence St. Peter Hospital, met with management for the eighth bargaining session of this contract cycle.

After more than a month since our last session, our team came prepared and eager to make meaningful progress. At the start of the day, nearly all outstanding proposals were with the Employer. Over the course of two morning meetings, we received their responses and had productive exchanges.

By the end of the day, we had traded both economic and non-economic proposals and we're encouraged by the progress made. We reached mutually aligned language on several key non-economic issues, including:

• Personnel File Protections: outlining a process for when verbal and written disciplines may be removed from an employee's file.

• Equal Opportunity Language: Strengthened protections against discrimination and harassment, including a defined process for feedback and accountability when concerns are raised.

As of the end of the session, only a few important non-economic Articles remain unresolved:

• Negotiations Release Time: A proposal to ensure that bargaining team members can be released to attend scheduled negotiations sessions; supporting full, effective representation at the table.

• Free Parking Protections: Language to preserve free employee parking for nurses at PSPH—reflecting current practice and preventing future rollbacks.

• Pre-Meeting Time for Committees: A proposal to allow 30 minutes of paid time for union members to meet prior to important worksite meetings, such as the Labor-Management and Hospital Staffing Committees.

• Steward Pay Protections: Contract language to ensure union stewards remain on paid time while attending grievance meetings or representing coworkers.

• Workplace Safety Measures: Proposals to enhance on-campus safety, including a weapon detection system at the Emergency Department entrance, and a particular focus on improvements to security in the hospital parking lot; which we feel are long overdue.

On the economic front, the Employer presented their second wage scale proposal, which included:

• An increase to wage rates for nurses at Step 25 & above (reflecting around a 1.75% - 3.5% increase for these steps, compared to the Employer's initial proposal)

• Removal of additional "ghost steps"—years where there is no wage increase, leaving only one remaining across their twenty-eight step proposal.

While we appreciate this movement, management's second proposal still brought no changes to any of the other components of our compensation; for example there are still no proposed increases to any of our workplace premiums or differentials.

Most concerning, however, was when we inquired about when we might expect a response to the safe staffing article our team presented back on April 29 (which included minimum nurse to patient ratios, the addition of break relief nurses, and an emergency department contingency staffing plan)—the Employer seemed to indicate that they'd forgotten about it entirely. Considering that this is a highly important issue for us and our coworkers—we're hopeful that bringing this article back to management's attention will result in meaningful responses.

We return to the bargaining table with management for back-to-back sessions on July 23 and 24. Despite some concerns about the Employer's responses, we feel that Wednesday's session was a productive step forward. We're proud of the progress made, and remain committed to pushing forward on issues like wages, workplace safety, and protections that honor and respect the work of all RNs at Providence St. Peter.

Tonight's Contract Action Team Meeting

Thursday, July 10
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
906 Columbia St SW
- Olympia 98501

Looking Ahead... Next Contract Action Team Meeting

ThursdayJuly 24
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
906 Columbia St SW
- Olympia 98501

"We made strong progress today! While there are still issues to work through, but it was great that we exchanged so many proposals and really landed on the same page as Providence on so many items... I'm excited about the direction we're heading and to keep this going at our next sessions!"

— Darlett Holm, RN

Your bargaining team: Mary Bloomberg, Surgical Acute RN; Jacob Kostecka, PACU RN; Darlett Holm, SADU West RN; Mike Staley, SADU RN; Ashley McBride, L&D RN; Julia Douglas, Sepsis RN; Grace Kraege, ED RN; Kelly Williams, Inpatient Psychiatry RN; Melanie Oakes, ED RN; Andy Dusablon, PACU RN; Haley Sweet, Neurology RN.

Sign the strike pledge card: We need to show Providence we're ready to do what it takes to get what we deserve. Sign the strike pledge card or ask a fellow member to sign it if they haven't already.

Step up! We need department leaders to keep members engaged in the fight. providence united — UFCW 3000

Organize, organize, organize: Know a worker who wants to join the union? Send them here.

Providence St. Peter RN - We're at the Table. Real Solutions Are Not.

On Thursday, June 5, our union bargaining team met with Providence to keep up our fight for better wages, safe staffing, real workplace safety measures, a retirement we can count on, and a strong healthcare plan.

Despite a relatively productive day of discussions on the non-economic sections of our contract, this meeting marked the second session in a row without responses from the employer on our core issues.

Furthermore, management's non-economic proposals still haven't properly addressed some of our key demands. For instance:

• Their proposal on Charge Nurse staffing did not guarantee that our Charge Nurses would be free from a dedicated patient assignment so they can ensure quality patient care and unit safety—without being stretched dangerously thin

• Their workplace safety proposals ignored our demands for emergency distress beacon towers in the parking lot and a weapon detection system in the Emergency Department

• They continued to reject language guaranteeing free on-site parking for nurses at PSPH; which at this time is simply maintenance of current practice

• They refuse to ensure release from work duties for union bargaining team members; essential for ensuring consistent & meaningful representation at the bargaining table

We remain committed to fighting for a contract that recognizes the skill, professionalism, and dedication of every nurse. However, given the serious and ongoing safety concerns facing both staff and patients, we are deeply concerned by Providence's refusal to engage meaningfully with these proposals. We feel that these solutions are not just reasonable—they are necessary.

Lastly, despite a productive day of discussions with Providence on the non-economic sections of our contract, June 5 now marks the second session in a row without responses from the employer on our wages, safe staffing language, or retirement & health plan proposals.

We continue pushing for meaningful progress on the issues that matter most: safe staffing, real workplace safety measures, strong union rights, and protections that reflect the work we do every day. We remain committed to fighting for a contract that recognizes the skill, professionalism, and dedication of every nurse.

Your bargaining team: Mary Bloomberg, Surgical Acute RN; Haley Sweet, Neurology RN; Jacob Kostecka, PACU RN; Kelly Williams, Inpatient Psychiatry RN; Melanie Oakes, ED RN; Darlett Holm, SADU West RN; Andy Dusablon, PACU RN; Grace Kraege, ED RN; Julia Douglas, Sepsis RN; Ashley McBride, L&D RN Not Pictured: Mike Staley, SADU RN

Contract Action Meeting (CAT)

June 12, 2025
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
In Person: 906 Columbia St SW STE 330 Olympia WA 98502