Nurses Seek Help From Court Union Asks For Injunction Against New Work Schedule At Eastern State

Labor unrest at Eastern State Hospital escalated Wednesday as registered nurses took their case to court.

A complaint filed by the nurses union in Spokane County Superior Court requests an injunction barring hospital management from imposing a new schedule.

The schedule would require the 117 registered nurses to work weekends eight months of the year. Their current contract guarantees at least one weekend day off.

The complaint, filed by the District 1199 Northwest chapter of the Service Employees International Union, says the state is unilaterally imposing the schedule in violation of the current contract.

It seeks to “maintain the status quo” until the contractual disagreement is settled. A hearing date is pending.

The filing is the latest development in growing labor discord at the 306-bed state psychiatric hospital. Two years of negotiations faltered this spring when the parties walked away from the bargaining table.

The union says its members will now refuse to work overtime in protest. It’s also contemplating a strike if the new schedule goes into effect as scheduled Aug. 1, said Dan Gosser, head of the union chapter.

“We’ll take this as far as we need to go,” said Gosser, a 13-year employee at the hospital.

The hospital’s chief executive officer, Jan Gregg, was unavailable Wednesday. Previously, she said the schedule change would occur regardless of dissent, and it would result in increased productivity at the hospital.

The union says it would result in decreased patient care because nurses, in some rare cases, would be required to work eight days straight.

Nurses say that such stress could return the hospital to the disarray of two years ago, when a federal review board found patient therapeutic and medical care lacking and threatened to cut $21 million in funding.

The new schedule would also harm job retention and the family life of nurses, they said. “This is really, really dangerous, not only for the patients,” said Gosser. “The nurses at Eastern State Hospital are concerned that they wouldn’t be able to do their job.”