National Nurses United

O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 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 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 9 NEVADA I n october, rns at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev. overwhelmingly ratified a new three- year contract. The agreement, which covers nearly 600 nurses, is the result of a bargaining campaign that included an infor- mational picket and a strike pledge. "We fought hard for an agreement to ensure safe patient staffing," said Tamara Erickson, an RN at Saint Mary's for more than 29 years, and member of the bargain- ing team. "I am so proud that we were unit- ed and stood strong against management's proposed takeaways." Contract highlights include minimum nurse-to-patient staff ratios, meal and rest break protections, expanded nondiscrimination protec- tions, and a minimum of 4 percent increase in pay for each year of the contract, with additional wage step and shift differential increases. "With this new contract we will be able to be better advocates for our patients," said Jeremy Shea, an RN at Saint Mary's for 17 years and also a member of the bargaining team. "We will be able to recruit and retain experienced nurses." —Staff report ILLINOIS R egistered nurses at UChicago Medicine Ingalls in Harvey, Ill., a south suburb of Chicago, voted by a landslide margin of 72 percent in October to join National Nurses Organizing Committee/ National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU). "Nurses at Ingalls are so excited to have won a seat at the table! We are ready to begin advocating to improve standards for our patients," said Cathy Vaughn, an RN in the Special Care Nursery. "This victory means that decisions about patient care are made at the bedside, not in the boardroom." The next step for the RNs at UChicago Medicine Ingalls is to elect a team of their colleagues to represent them in talks for their first collective bargaining agreement with hospital management. In the run-up to the successful union vote, nurses expressed the desire for a stronger collective voice in decisions that affect nurs- ing practice and patient care issues, such as rectifying the hospital's substandard nurse- to-patient staffing ratios. The nurses are also seeking guaranteed paid meals and breaks with a relief RN to provide patient coverage, fair pay includ- ing transparent and guaranteed raises for everyone, improved health benefits, as well as an end to mandatory overtime and unsafe "floating." All these steps will enhance retention and recruitment of RNs and guarantee quality patient care, say nurses. "We are the ones at the bedside taking care of patients at Ingalls and now that we have a voice as nurses represented by NNOC/NNU, we won't be shut out when it comes to making decisions about patient care," said Sylviette Young, an RN working in orthopedics. —Staff report Reno nurses win new contract Chicago RNs at Ingalls unionize

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