Washington State Nurses Association reaches tentative agreement with Seattle Children’s

The Washington State Nurses Association said after nine months of bargaining, it reached the agreement Friday, and that the bargaining team supports a “yes” vote.

“We recommend you vote ‘YES’ because your overwhelming solidarity in authorizing a strike vote helped us achieve notable gains since November 21 on your top priority issues: wage scale, sick leave, workplace violence, night shift differential, and breaks protections,” the union posted on its website. “This tentative agreement also greatly improves language to make a safer workplace, with more time off, and more predictable schedules, among many other areas. Finally, thanks to your unity and loud voices, we fought off the employer’s anti-union and anti-nurse takeaways.”

‘We’ve fought very hard for protections’: Union officer details tentative agreement

The union represents 2,100 registered nurses at the hospital.

“We’ve worked extremely hard and fought very hard for not only the wages that are proposed, but a lot of other protections and things for nurses to have a better nursing career at Seattle Children’s,” nurse Lindsey Kirsch, who is also an officer for the union, said.

She said the agreement includes more protections against workplace violence for nurses.

“If the nurse was assaulted, their head was bashed into a wall — which is very realistic — or got permanent brain damage, or their eye was punched, or their stomach was punched despite them being pregnant, and a nurse had to take time off as a result of this injury, they had to use their own sick time or vacation time to pay themselves,” she said. “We should not have to pay for our own injuries.”

Under the tentative agreement, they would not. If a nurse’s patient dies, they would have the option of taking the rest of the day off.

“It is very difficult, particularly if you’ve been taking care of that patient for a very long time,” Kirsch said. “And it’s very difficult to go from a patient’s last moments of life and then have to go into the next room and take care of another patient.”

Seattle Children’s thanks nurses, care teams amid tentative agreement

A Seattle Children’s spokesperson provided this statement to KIRO Newsradio:

We are pleased to share that Seattle Children’s and the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) bargaining teams reached a full tentative contract agreement in the early morning hours of January 23. The agreement was reached with the assistance of the federal mediator who guided the parties to a recommended resolution. We appreciate everyone’s tireless efforts and want to especially thank the bargaining teams for working so hard to achieve this outcome.

Thank you to the nurses and care teams for continuing to provide high-quality and safe care for patients and their families during this time. We want to express our deep gratitude for the compassionate care our nurses, care teams and staff provide at Seattle Children’s every single day. Thank you for continuing to show up with unwavering dedication — living out our mission for the patients and families we serve,” the spokesperson stated.

Voting on the tentative agreement will be held online from Thursday night through Saturday night, the union said.

Nurses voted last month to authorize a strike.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.