Dec. 15, 2023
Dear Providence Alaska Medical Center Nursing Leaders:
Contract nego a ons begin between PAMC and AaNA
On December 13-14, Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC) began nego a ons with the Alaska
Nurses Associa on (AaNA) bargaining team on a new contract for PAMC nurses. Nego a ons started
earlier than normal to try and reach an agreement before the current contract expires in April 2024.
Providence is commi ed to working with AaNA to develop an agreement that reaches our shared goals –
providing compe ve wages and benefits for nurses and ensuring we are posi oned to provide high-
quality, affordable health care. We want to foster a produc ve dialogue between our bargaining teams,
nurses and leaders so we can come to an agreement that best serves our caregivers, our pa ents, our
organiza on and the community.
We sincerely thank the AaNA bargaining team for produc ve discussions this week, and we look forward
to con nuing this produc ve dialogue with the union going forward.
Union presents ini al proposals
The teams exchanged ini al proposals on many non-economic items, including union orienta on for new
nurses; defini ons for Nurse Residents, Registry and Preceptor; care sets; the order of overstaff;
weekends; jury duty and more.
The AaNA team proposed some new provisions that PAMC did not agree to, including the items below.
Staffing ra os
The PAMC team explained we could not agree to staffing ra os when we cannot control what happens
daily with pa ents or nurse staffing on each unit. For example, a unit may have a sudden influx of
pa ents or several call-outs by nurses due to illness or a family emergency. Including ra os in the
contract would result in grievances filed for events completely out of the hospital's control. PAMC strives
to follow well-accepted na onal nurse staffing guidelines and will con nue to do so.
Break nurse u liza on
PAMC recognizes the importance of nurses ge ng their breaks and accurately tracking missed breaks so
leaders can determine whether addi onal staff coverage is needed. A previously established joint AaNA/
PAMC commi ee on breaks is already working to improve break prac ces and coverage. In units this
commi ee has worked with, nurses report receiving their breaks most of the me. We do not want to
discourage nurses from repor ng missed breaks, and we will con nue to stress the importance of
leaders suppor ng nurses' ability to take their breaks.
