Nurses Union in WA

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I have been perusing hospital job lines and note there is a union for nurses...can somebody enlighten me further?

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Specializes in tele, stepdown/PCU, med/surg.
I have been perusing hospital job lines and note there is a union for nurses...can somebody enlighten me further?

Hey there girl :)

A major union in WA state for nurses is WSNA, the labor arm of the WA state constituent of the ANA. The other union you hear about is SEIU, or Service Employees. They also represent nurses in some hospitals.

The hospital I work at here in Yakima and the one I came from in Seattle both use WSNA to represent their nurses. There is a contract and nurses and managers have to abide by it. I believe all hospitals are unionized in WA state or at least most of them are.

There are union reps that you can have with you whenever you meet with the manager or if there's any problems.

The thing is under a union, pay raises are granted according to years of experience. That is a good thing, but what if you have a hard-working go-gettem nurse that does excellent work and a lazy nurse with a bad attitude. They both get money according to years worked and not according to productivity or anything like that.

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Ah..thank you Zac! Nice to see you posting. We need to pick up our WA nurses site here a bit don't you think? Too quiet...;)

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Hey there girl :)

A major union in WA state for nurses is WSNA, a constituent of the ANA. The other union you hear about is SEIU, or Service Employees Union. They also represent nurses in some hospitals.

The hospital I work at here in Yakima and the one I came from in Seattle both use WSNA to represent their nurses. There is a contract and nurses and managers have to abide by it. I believe all hospitals are unionized in WA state or at least most of them are.

There are union reps that you can have with you whenever you meet with the manager or if there's any problems.

The thing is under a union, pay raises are granted according to years of experience. That is a good thing, but what if you have a hard-working go-gettem nurse that does excellent work and a lazy nurse with a bad attitude. They both get money according to years worked and not according to

productivity or anything like that.

I worked in Spokane, Washington for 12 years in a major hospital that was represented by the Washington State Nurses Association. I have never come across a more worthless organization in my life. Having WSNA representing you is worse than not having a union at all. There is minimal communication with the nurses, contract negotiations are kept secret, there is no newsletter, or anything to keep nurses in the loop. Compare that to other unions. At least if you are not represenented by a union, if there is a dispute, unfair labor practice, discriminatory practices by the managent or nurse manager, etc. you can obtain a labor lawyer, an expert, on your side (who by the way, take cases on a contingency- if you don't win, you don't pay). When you are represented by WSNA you are required by law to jump through a series of worthless "kangaroo court", grievances before you can get your own attorney. I found out too late, after I entered the Legal Nurse Certificate program at Spokane Community College and took Employment Law, that there is Case Law in Washington, that allows you to petition to a Court to be allowed to bypass the grievances, on the basis that further grievances would be futile. You then can seek representation by an attorney, and the union has to pay all of your legal costs.

I had major problems with my nurse manager, and the administration, and I had to go through a worthless union rep, who was an amatuer, and more on administrations side than mine. I endured 12 years of the worse kid of discrimination, harrassment, unfair labor practices, that anyone could imagine, and finally had to leave due to family problems and personal health concerns due to the stress.

I observed a night nurse physically abusing an elderly female patient, and when I reported him, he got only a slap on the wrist. He was finally fired a year later for cursing out a female ANM. That they fired him for. He should have been arrested and been put in jail. He had problems when he worked in California, and moved up here to Washington, in the early 90's (shades of Cullen). He was employed on a supplemental basis for another hospital that was owned by the same healthcare corporation, and he just went on fulltime for that hospital after he got fired. I reported him to the State Board of Nursing, and they did nothing. I checked his file on line, and he has no disciplinary actions against his license, not even my complaint.

This hospital was blatanly anti female biased, if you can believe that. The male nurses got away with murder in the ICU. They walked on water, and could do no wrong. All three of the ANM's on nights were male. They finally hired a female night ANM becasue she had neuro expertise that none of the male applicants for the 4th night ANM position had. I also reported the hospital to the EEOC, and got no where with them either.

Our contracts have been all take aways for the last ten years. A couple of years ago, the RT's, NA's, secretaries, X- ray Techs, etc., all unionized under 1199. They bargained for, and got, Seattle/Tacoma area wages, almost a 20% pay increase for them. Last year, the RN's were negotiating their contract. They got started late because the hospital was underging some kind of survey, or something (not JCAHO), and asked the union if they could put off the negatiations until they were done. Needless to say, the contract negatations were rushed, the hospital wanted to only give the nurses a 5% increase, and increase the medical benefits 20%. After much grief, WSNA said that it was the best that they could get from the hospital. To ad insult to injury, the hospital said that it was the nurses fault that the negotiations were started late, and even though, by the time the contract was finished, it was already March, (the contract expired 12/31), the hospital refused to give retroactive pay (from 12/31), for the 5% raises they did receive. My friend said that as the nurses went to vote on the new contract, they put in their paperwork to get out of WSNA. I saw the light years ago, and got out.

So as it stands now, the young nurses stay for 4- 5 years, and they are gone. The older nurses are stuck, and count the days that they have to retire, if they live that long. I grew up in a union family from NYC. My dad went out on strike nationwide with the Post Office in 3/70, and brought the entire country to its knees in three days. I have never seen such incompetence like WSNA, in my life. They were also responsibile for allowing nursing homes and Asistedf living facilities to allow "Medication Aides" to pass meds. Look on the Board of Nursing web site, where they list the pre- requisites for a person to becoame a medication aide. Washingotn State has none. The Board of Nursing allowed the med aides to be allowed and WSNA did nothing to stop it. As we say in Brooklyn, WSNA is as useful as Tits on a Bull. If you get my drift.

I believe that the nurses in Washington State, and all over the country,would do better to join in with NNOC, national nurses union, and bypass any and all state nurses associations. The UAN is nothing more than the "labor arm" of a more dysfynctional organization, the ANA, which California and several other states have withdrawn from, with good reason. They have not come close to doing for nurses what CNA has done in California, and have hindered nurses obtaining any better working comditions, staffing ratios, and the much improved pay the that nurses badly need. They have dragged their feet instituting a BSN as entry into practice, and as a result, nursing remains a trailer trash, bluecollar profession in the eyes of the public, and the hospitals. The public may think that nurses are wonderful and trustworthly, but ask them if we should make $30, 000/years more, like Physical Therapists.

I also believe that the NYSNA negatiates contracts with entirely EMPLOYER PAID MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR ALL FOR THE NURSES, AND THEIR FAMILIES, RESPRESENTATED BY THEIR CONTRACTS. They are also a powerful union. The issue of the free medical benefits to the nurses and their families is non negotiable at contract time. I believe that it would be in the best intersets of all nurses to join the NNOC, and become a group worth reckoned with. I also think that NYSNA should join in with CNA, and have much needed, powerful, nationwide representation from coast to coast. It will wake as much to save the nursing profession.

Overall, if there are nurses who are satisfied with the nursing union in Washington, they are in the minority. I am not anti- union at all. I am against unions that pretend to represent their constituents, and are too weak, wishy washy, and spineless to do the job right. They cause more harm than good. I rest my case.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

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Wow...Linda...your story is very troubling to me. Do the nurses here not care enough to join their union, get involved and make it more responsive to members? Surely nurses here are not pleased with their representation based on what you have shared. What do you attribute the problem to?

Is it worthwhile for an outspoken nurse advocate to join the union here and try to effect positive changes, or has it gone so far,gotten so dysfunctional, that it would be futile (and possibly self harming) to try at this point?

I agree a union like you describe is not worthy of support. My hubby is in a good union in this area and I had hoped the nurses' union would be comparable.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

PM me if you want to know about my union.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

WSNA is not the only union in WA for nurses. We are represented by USNU, United Staff Nurses Union, and I am happy with them. We bargain hard, our contract is a good one, and when we need union rep back-up for grievances, we get it. I have also heard, just last week, one of my co-workers say of WSNA "when WSNA was here, we got nothing. They didn't help us with grievances at all." I guess that's why USNU is ours now.

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Ah thank you TNTRN...USNU were the initials I read in the Bremerton Hospital website...I wondered what it stood for. :)

Glad to hear it is decent. I was so looking forward to strong and decent union representation, coming here from the south where union is a dirty word. ;)

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I'm sure the hospitals in Tacoma that are USNU represented are represented from the USNU office in Federal Way. I know John Aslakson from USNU negotiates in Olympia. He's a very knowledgeable fellow and in my experience on our netotiating team for the last three contracts, I find him to be a stern negotatiator who will not buckle to various management tactics. One of my favorites is when the Management team comes in (after we've presented an offer that includes some changes) and asks if we have anything to offer. John will say, "are you asking if we have been negotiating with ourselves, because if you are, the answer if no." I love that one.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I'm sure the hospitals in Tacoma that are USNU represented are represented from the USNU office in Federal Way. I know John Aslakson from USNU negotiates in Olympia. He's a very knowledgeable fellow and in my experience on our netotiating team for the last three contracts, I find him to be a stern negotatiator who will not buckle to various management tactics. One of my favorites is when the Management team comes in (after we've presented an offer that includes some changes) and asks if we have anything to offer. John will say, "are you asking if we have been negotiating with ourselves, because if you are, the answer if no." I love that one.

I tried to find the United Staff Nurses Union web site but failed, can you please help me ... And if anybody has web adresses of other unions, please let me know. :)

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