Nurses picket outside Good Sam Hospital in Puyallup amid workplace concerns
Hundreds of nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup are picketing outside the facility Wednesday over their concerns about management’s contract proposals related to staffing.
About 1,039 nurses who are represented by the Washington State Nurses Association planned to picket from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 5:30 p.m. with a rally at 5 p.m. Nurses outside the hospital plan to “inform the public about MultiCare’s disrespect towards nurses at the bargaining table,” according to a WSNA news release.
“During the last contract settled in 2023, Good Samaritan nurses fought hard for additional staffing resources in the contract, including charge nurses and flex nurses free of patient assignment, as well as break relief nurses. In this round of negotiations, MultiCare proposes to eliminate that language, asking nurses to trust that they will not get rid of them in the future,” the release said.
In a statement to The News Tribune about the picket, MultiCare said they place high value on the contributions of their Good Samaritan nurses.
“We have been bargaining in good faith to reach a fair contract that supports a positive, equitable and economically sustainable workplace. We are offering competitive wages aligned the rest of our health system,” according to a statement shared by MultiCare spokesperson Scott Thompson via email.
He added, “As is common in union negotiations, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) intends to hold an informational picket at Good Samaritan Hospital on May 27. The hospital will remain open and fully staffed. We look forward to continuing to bargain in good faith toward an agreement that will position both our team members and our hospitals for the future.”
The WSNA release said that Good Samaritan has the fourth-busiest emergency department in the nation per capita.
“We’re hoping that by picketing we will get our message out there and get the public involved, because that could generate more movement at the bargaining table,” said Savanah James, who has been a nurse at the hospital for three years in the progressive care unit and is co-chair for the union.
The union has been at the bargaining table since March, and they had their tenth bargaining session on May 18, James said.
“Nurses are also outraged over management’s use of the term ‘colored nurses’ in an April 23 agenda for a conference committee — where union nurses and management discuss issues,” the release said. “The agenda included the following item: ‘Racial bias: Travis believes there is discrimination for colored nurses as it relates to discipline.’”
“Travis” refers to Travis Elmore Nelson, a nurse and union leader for WSNA. Nelson is also a state senator in Oregon.
“The use of the term ‘colored nurses’ is associated with segregation and racism,” the release said.
Nelson told The News Tribune nurses who identify as Black or persons of color have been bringing forth concerns about inequitable treatment by management.
James told The News Tribune she wants to draw attention to the alleged discrimination.
“We have had a plethora of nurses coming forward, communicating that they have been feeling like they’ve been discriminated against, like targeted by management,” she said. “Like they’ve been put under the microscope. I’ve even worked with a nurse that felt she was being targeted, and I was reading through the emails, and I’m like, wait a minute, I’ve done all these things, why am I not getting these emails?”
Juliana DeFilippis, attorney for WSNA, said that based on their data, the company’s most recent proposal to Good Samirtian nurses is less than any of their Western Washington facilities.
James said on her floor there are about four to five patients to one nurse.
“We really want to give high level care to all of our patients, but when we have inappropriate ratios or unsafe ratios, it’s moral distress, and it increases burnout. We’re not able to retain our senior nurses. The turnover on my floor is very high,” she said.
Nicole Mandeville has been with Good Samaritan since 2019 and is a co-chair on the hospital staffing committee. She told The News Tribune that another issue is non-union clinical assistant nurse managers doing the job of a charge nurse.
“The charge nurse role is a union position, and management are salary, and so really the problem is that it’s taking away a union position,” she said. “It’s not that it provides more help on the floor, it’s not that it expedites patient care or makes patient care more safe. It doesn’t provide any benefit at all, except for that MultiCare doesn’t have to pay someone to do that role because they’ve got one person doing two positions.”
