Whatcom County HD Contract Negotiation Survey 2025

1. Contact Information

The current contract between WSNA and Whatcom County Health Dept expires December 31, 2025. This survey is the first step in our preparations to negotiate the provisions of our next contract term, which will begin in January 2026. We are scheduled to begin meeting with the County early in September.

Your team needs your input so we can determine your collective priorities and have adequate preparation of proposals prior to meeting with the County.

Your power comes from your willingness to stand together in unity. We ask for your personal contact information because we must confirm that survey respondents are Whatcom WSNA-represented and make corrections to the information as needed. It’s important to provide all the employees represented by the WSNA contract with timely information regarding progress and issues in negotiations. WSNA and your negotiating team members do not share your contact information with anyone outside your team. Team members may contact you if questions arise related to negotiations. Please do not send WSNA union information through our work emails, as that is all property of the county. The survey closes on Monday, August 25.

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* 1. Contact information

First and last name

Division

Primary work site

Secondary work site if applicable

Classification

FTE (example: 0.5, 0.8, 1.0)

Best personal phone number (not work phone)

Best personal email (not work email)

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* 2. Which of the following economic requests is important to you in this new contract?

Increased Wages

Parity/year-for-year credit for previous nursing

Ability to appeal for higher wage after starting employment

Step Increases/clarity i.e. PH1/PHN2

Additional Step Options for years of experience above Step 9

Bilingual pay premium (i.e. 1$/h)

Parking benefit (stipend for parking, given issues with parking)

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* 3. What wage increase would you like to see in each year of our contract (for reference, past increase was 6%, 4%, and 3% for a total of 13% over three years)

Same increase

Ask for more

Other (please specify)

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* 4. Which of the following health insurance plans would you rather have in this new contract? The Whatcom County public links provide comprehensive, official information about what has been available for 2025. Click the links below to review each one: Teamsters Master (local 231) and WA Nurses Association:

Stay in the current Premera Insurance

Move to Teamsters Insurance (May be an option to move to)

I'm not sure, I need more info to decide

Other (please specify)

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* 5. Which of the following other health insurance requests are important to you in this new contract?

Other Health Insurance options (may or may not be an option depending on what is offered to us, but if we research it, we could try to suggest another option)

Ability to opt out of Health Insurance through the County

Cost/Benefits of Health Insurance

Dependent Coverage/cost for Health Insurance

Part time coverage/cost for health insurance

Other (please specify)

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* 6. Which of the following non-economic contract issues is important to you in this new contract?

We need more nurses to support the workflow and/or volume within my scheduled shifts

We need more support staff

Personal time off to combine sick time with vacation time

More vacation time

Ability to cash out sick time at 100% or convert to accrued leave

Preceptor pay to get paid to orient students, such as at 1$/h

Other (please specify)

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* 7. Highest level of education as a nurse

Diploma

Associate

Baccalaureate

Masters

Doctorate

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* 8. If you are not a nurse, highest level of education

High school diploma

Vocational degree or certification

Associate

Baccalaureate

Masters

Doctorate

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* 9. I am willing to help strengthen our bargaining power and WSNA! I can (multiple choice)

Observe negotiations on a day off (partial or full day)

Attend local unit meetings

Serve as a WSNA officer (such as co-chair, treasurer, grievance officer or other)

be a "program rep" or "building rep", letting RN coworkers know about WSNA happenings

Organize/Support social events/outreach/potlucks

Meet with new WSNA represented employees to talk about the union

Help with Newsletters

Distribute information to WSNA coworkers

Make phone/email/reach out to colleagues

Work on a social media page if we decide to get one

Other (please specify)

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* 10. Which would you be interested in for a WCHCS WSNA Social Media page to keep updated with happenings?

Facebook

Instagram

Not interested

Other (please specify)

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* 11. Do you feel the health department’s leadership supports you and includes nurses in decisions affecting your work?

Yes

Partly

Other (please specify)

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* 12. How do you feel your workload is related the ability to take rest and meal breaks? Do you take your 15-minute breaks and your 30-minute Lunch Breaks?

I can't take breaks

I can take breaks sometimes

I always have time to take breaks

I take breaks when I can

Other (please specify)

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* 13. What is the best way to communicate updates with you during negotiations?

Town hall

virtual Sip n’ chat

text message

bulletin board/flyers

social media (if we have one)

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* 14. What is the biggest issue of priority for you during negotiations?

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* 15. Anything else you would like to share? Any issues you would like us to additionally consider? Feel free to share as little or as much

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* 16. To achieve a strong, fair contract, I'm willing to

Wear support stickers/buttons

Wear WSNA t-shirt

Sign solidarity petition

Put support placards in your car window or other

Sport other WSNA swag in office (i.e. mug, bottle, lanyard)

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* 17. Would you like us to reach out to you? If yes, we will use the contact information provided.

Yes

Not at this time