Update from the Oct. 4 Tribune:
Providence nurses “getting closer” to new contract
EVERETT — There’s been “promising developments” toward a new contract with Providence after latest negotiations held last week, nurses’ union UFCW 3000 said in a report.
Further negotiations are scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11.
The contract is due Oct. 30. Key topics have been increasing pay wages and improving nurse-patient ratios. UFCW said Providence has offered better pay rates, but not as high as what the union seeks.
The union has said it is prepared to strike.
Meanwhile at Kaiser Permanente
Health care workers at Kaiser may take the option to strike in November at all in-state Kaiser facilities if a contract isn’t set by Oct. 31, its union SEIU 1199NW said last week.
Story from the Sept. 27 Tribune below:
EVERETT — Providence nurses are prepared to strike if a new contract isn't settled by a Oct. 30 deadline, a key union representative said last week.
Restoring staff levels is the center point. Reducing how many patients an rovidence nurses are prepared to strike if a new contract isn't settled by a Oct. 30 deadline, a key union representative said last week.
Restoring staff levels is the center point. Reducing how many patients an average nurse is shouldered with is another point — a consequential one tied to having less nurses on the floor.
Emergency room nurse Kelli Johnson said 100 beds are closed within the hospital due to understaffing.
Oct. 30 is when the three-year contract's up.
Negotiations have been going since April. Lead union negotiator Evelyn Orantes-Fogel said things are going at a "glacial" pace, and the union's side is not getting transparency from Providence.
They don't want to strike, but if there's not a resolution, "we are preparing for a strike," Orantes-Fogel said at a Sept. 21 town hall.
If it does, Providence would maintain hospital operations with skilled replacement nurses during any strike, a Providence-Swedish spokeswoman said.
Providence’s nurses union, UFCW 3000, held the town hall in the Everett Labor Temple to discuss the issues.
Providence Everett's two campuses are down by 600 nurses since August 2021, a drop from 2,000 nurses to now about 1,400.
The union says the solution is to increase pay rates to retain nurses. The starting base pay at Providence for a brand-new nurse is $37.71 per hour, which is about $3 to $5 an hour lower than other hospitals such as Swedish-Edmonds, EvergreenHealth Kirkland and Overlake.
The gap means a new nurse can earn $10,000 to $12,000 a year more working elsewhere than Providence, and that may be hindering Providence's attempts to recruit and retain nurses, said Trevor Gjendem, an orthopedic nurse at the bargaining table.
EvergreenHealth Kirkland's starting wage for a brand-new nurse is $40.76/hour, its current contract says.
Since negotiations began, Providence said its goal “has been to get our nurses the pay increases they deserve and staffing support they need at the bedside,” Providence-Swedish spokeswoman Erika Hermanson said in a statement. “We recognize that due to inflation and pay increases at neighboring Puget Sound hospitals our nurse wages are no longer market competitive. Without wage parity, retention of our valued nurses and recruitment of new nurses has become even more challenging. PRMCE is committed to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that benefits our valued nurses and ensures we are positioned to continue providing affordable, high-quality care to the communities we serve.”
Another negotiation meeting was Sept. 26 after the Tribune’s press time. The Tribune was not given a status update from the union before posting the story online the late evening of Sept. 26 to update the story.
Contracted traveling nurses have filled some of the gaps at a premium price, but during August, 60 bolted, union leaders said. It's because Providence lowered traveling nurse pay rates; the nurses have no obligation to stick around once their short-term contracts end. A new batch of 100 traveling nurses were expected to arrive this month, ER nurse Kelli Johnson said.
Nurses at the town hall accused Providence of focusing on finances above staff and patient needs.
Nowadays nurses are facing ratios of four or five patients to a nurse, and seven patients to a nurse in the leanest departments, Providence employees shared at the town hall. Pre-pandemic, it used to be a 1:3 ratio, or just three patients to take care of on a shift, said Rafael Lamarca, a career night nurse at Colby.
These stated ratios are vastly higher than proposed national guidelines, which, to use examples, suggest 1:3 ratios in ERs and no higher than 1:1 in critical care units.
"We don't have the nurses to pay attention to the details of patients," a critical care nurse said at the town hall.
This is an issue for everybody, said Gjendem. "Our standard of care is dropping," he said. Re-admissions from people returning with complications after being discharged is allegedly rising.
Processing patients is another complication from staffing. The emergency department — the first place people come — commonly has about 50 patients ready to leave the ER who can't get transferred in a timely manner because there's not enough nurses to handle the inpatient beds, Johnson said.
The Everett hospital lost a staggering more than $110 million through the third quarter of 2022, according to a November letter Providence wrote to elected leaders.
Nurses have pushed Everett city leaders to intervene.
Mayor Cassie Franklin wasn’t available to interview by a short Tribune deadline. The city, in a statement, said “we are aware that staffing has been a particular challenge for healthcare organizations, especially since the pandemic. We respect workers’ right to strike and we are hopeful both sides will be able to reach an agreement soon” as residents rely upon this care.
Everett State Sen. June Robinson's "safe nurse staffing" reform bill passed this year in the Legislature empowers workers to help establish enforceable baselines for patient-to-nurse staffing ratios within each hospital, but these rules do not start being in full effect until July 2025 at the earliest.
Providence nurses are represented by UFCW 3000. SEIU 1199NW represents the nurses of Cascade Valley (in Arlington), EvergreenHealth Monroe and Swedish-Edmonds hospitals. The Washington State Nursing Association union represents Overlake and Evergreen Kirkland.
