12 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
ILLINOIS
R
egistered nurses at Jackson
Park Hospital in Chicago, Ill. in
August ratified a new three-year
collective bargaining contract.
Nurses say a key element of the contract is a
provision that will help enforce agreed-upon
safe staffing levels to ensure the highest
quality of patient care.
"In this contract, we won the ability to
hold management accountable with regard
to safe staffing," said Yulonda Clark, a regis-
tered nurse in the emergency department.
"We can bring our disputes before a neutral
arbitrator who can compel management to
comply with our contract's staffing
language. This is a huge victory for our
patients."
Another key prevision in the contract
centers on improving weekend staffing by
instituting a program that will allow nurses
to choose to work every weekend at a
premium rate, instead of requiring all
nurses to rotate the weekend shifts.
"In order to improve staffing over the
weekend, we created a weekend option
program," said Tracy Allen, RN. "Nurses
who want to consistently work weekends
will receive a significant differential for
these shifts. This will help safely balance the
schedule and allow weekday RNs to work
fewer weekend shifts."
The negotiating team was also able to
beat back a management proposal that
would have forced nurses to work in units
for which they did not have the experience
or expertise. The contract, which covers 120
nurses, also includes economic gains, with
wage increases from 8.2 percent to 16
percent over the life of the contract, which
help in the recruitment and retention of
experienced nurses.
"During the life of this contract, we won
substantial economic improvements,
including additional vacation time,
increased differentials, and raises that will
make our wages very competitive in this
area," said Theresa Ivery, a registered nurse
in the behavioral health unit.
—Staff report
Chicago Jackson Park nurses
win new three-year contract
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