After ten months of bargaining, St. Elizabeth nurses have a new contract with the hospital.
Tension was high between Virginia Mason Franciscan Health administration and its local workers last fall, when during the bargaining process, nurses and community members demonstrated outside the hospital with signs and a bullhorn, demanding competitive pay, compensation for overnight shifts, and funding for continuing education.
And, according to acute care RN and SEIU 1199 NW union bargaining team member Kelly Patton, “We pretty much got our priorities.”
“We pushed them hard on this,” she said, “and we got some wins that we didn’t expect.”
Competitive pay was a big sticking point for the nurses.
Back at the picket, Patton was saying that previous contracts approved in 2019 and 2022 gave nurses competitive pay, but then other hospitals in the VMFH family would receive a bump, putting St. Elizabeth nurses behind.
“… [H]ere we are again, falling behind,” Patton said last November. “Just when we get where we’re good, and we can be competitive and get the experienced nurses in that are willing to work with less, we lose them again.”
But Patton is optimistic with this contract, as “pay went up substantially” and nurses even received a bonus that the union did not request.
“We don’t have a crystal ball. We’re going to have to wait and see — the next time we do bargain, it will be with the other CommonSpirit [Health] hospitals so that might drive a different direction. We don’t know,” she added. “But so far it’s competitive in the market we are in at this time. For that, we’re happy.”
The union also asked for changes in how the hospital handles overnight OR shifts.
St. Elizabeth’s five operating room (OR) nurses have to take one on-call night a week and switch off who is on call for one weekend a month.
Sometimes, they’re called in to for their on-call shift, and then have to work a full day after.
While the schedule didn’t change in this contact, these OR nurses are now better compensated and are paid time-and-a-half for overnight shifts.
“They are very happy,” Patton said. “They were fighting [for] that in the last two contracts…. they deserve it, for sure.”
Having opportunities for nurses to continue their education was another sticking point.
The union wanted VFMH to pay into the union’s Multi-Employer Training Fund, which provides nurses the financial aid necessary to to cover tuition, further their professional education, or even pay their license fees.
While VFMH did not join the Multi-Employer Training Fund, the health system agreed to provide funds for nurses to take classes, get certified, and renew licenses.
“That’s very nice. It’s expensive to become certified,” Patton said. “… And to maintain that certification on top of your license is expensive. So that’s cool they’re going to do that.”
Patton said the union will continue to push for St. Elizabeth to pay into the training fund during the next round of bargaining.
St. Elizabeth President Dana Shanner, RN, said administration was “very pleased” to reach an agreement.
“Our new contract supports our ability to recruit and retain our nurses and continue delivering excellent patient care each day,” she continued. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to reaching this outcome and look forward to a bright future ahead serving our community.”
