National Nurses United

CALIFORNIA I n january, health care workers and employees at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Calif. voted to join the Care- givers & Health care Employees Union (CHEU). CHEU will represent nearly 700 health care workers and employees at the hospital. They include technical employees, nursing assistants, and other hospital workers. "The most important issue is giving patients the care they deserve," said Margarita Cervantes, a nursing assistant who has worked at Methodist Hospital for 19 years. "We joined the union so that we can have a stronger voice on safe staffing. We want the lift team to have working equipment to safely handle patients and prevent injuries to our patient and our workers." "We're very happy to be part of CHEU and can use our collective voice to have a say in patient care and staffing," said Theresa Hayes, an MRI technologist who has worked at Methodist Hospital for 23 years and is a member of the organizing team. "Now we will have a say about policies to improve recruitment and retention." "We are excited to have won our election with CHEU," said Chris Martinez, a respira- tory care practitioner who has worked at Methodist Hospital for 12 years. "Now, we look forward to having a voice on patient care and safety." An important issue for Methodist Hospi- tal workers voting to join CHEU was the desire for a stronger collective voice on patient care issues, especially in improving safe staffing. They are also seeking consistent break coverage, fair pay, improved health benefits, and proper training and orientation. All these steps will enhance retention and recruitment of health care workers and guarantee quality patient care, say the hospital workers. The next step is for the hospital workers to elect a team of their colleagues to repre- sent them in talks for their first collective bargaining agreement with Methodist Hospital management. The CHEU workers now join nurses at Methodist Hospital in enjoying the power of unionization. RNs there voted to join the California Nurses Association in 2018 and ratified their first contract in December 2019. —Staff report CALIFORNIA R egistered nurses at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Calif. won their historic first contract in December 2019. The three-year agreement covers more than 700 nurses, who overwhelmingly voted in November 2018 to unionize with the California Nurses Associa- tion/National Nurses United. The vote to join CNA/NNU represented the largest number of nonunion nurses in Southern Calif. to join a union in at least five years. "We will now have a real voice in making decisions on how we care for our patients," said Fiona John, RN and member of the bargaining team. "We will have a say on policies before they are implemented by management. We can ensure that decisions will not impact patient care adversely." "This vote is a huge victory," said Shelly Perks, RN and member of the bargaining team. "We won important protections for our patients, for safe staffing, and for recruiting and retaining experienced nurses for our community. Our RNs can be very proud of what we accomplished." Key contract highlights include safe staffing provisions, such as meal and rest break language, as well as protections against unsafe floating; the creation of a professional performance committee; clear and transparent workplace rules on job vacancies, scheduling, and other work procedures; increases to paid time off and retirement; the establishment of a step scale in the first year of the contract; and wage increases based on years of acute-care expe- rience with overseas experience counted equally. —Chuleenan Svetvilas Methodist Hospital RNs win first contract 6 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 A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 2 0 Health care workers at Methodist Arcadia vote to unionize NEWS BRIEFS

• Cover