Hollister
– Union nurses have voted to ratify an agreement with Hazel
Hawkins Memorial Hospital, a move the nurses hope the hospital’s
board of trustees will follow in turn today.
Hollister – Union nurses have voted to ratify an agreement with Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, a move the nurses hope the hospital’s board of trustees will follow in turn today.
“The vote was overwhelming, almost unanimous,” said Patty Lasky, a representative of the California Nurses’ Association.
The hospital reached a tentative agreement last week with the nurses’ union after three months of negotiations, and now union members have signed off on the four-year contract.
The news is particularly welcome to the hospital given that in late October the union, frustrated with the slow pace of the negotiations process, voted to authorize a strike if progress was not made quickly. The strike never took place, however, as negotiations picked up steam shortly thereafter.
The contract calls for a 25.5 percent wage increase for all 110 registered nurses represented by the union over the four-year life of the contract. Nurses will get a 3 percent raise every six months for the next four years.
Currently, a newly hired RN fresh out of school makes $32.66 per hour, according to Lasky. Under the new contract, he or she will receive a raise of about a dollar every six months and be will be earning roughly $41 an by the end of the four years. A highly experienced nurse, who currently makes $53.45 an hour, will receive about $67 an hour by the end of the contract.
Another addition to the contract says pension benefits will increase by 10 percent this January, and then again by 20 percent in 2010. Language was also put in the contract guaranteeing that the introduction of new technology to the hospital will not replace any nurses.
“One of our main goals was to improve recruitment and retention of RNs to better serve patients in San Benito County,” special care unit RN Ashley Blinn said. “We are pleased that this contract moves forward in that direction.
The changes to the contract are all designed to make it easier for the hospital to recruit more nurses, easing the current staffing shortage at Hazel Hawkins. One of the union’s biggest contentions with the hospital was that employees were being forced to work long hours and skip breaks because there aren’t enough nurses to cover each shift. The changes to the union’s contract could persuade experienced nurses who live in Hollister but commute to jobs out of town to consider working at Hazel Hawkins, as well as attract nursing school graduates, according to the union.
“We haven’t heard a solid number of exactly how many nurses we have to hire,” said Gordon Machado, who serves as treasurer on the hospital’s governing board. “We don’t know exactly what the deficit is, but I imagine we will soon.”
If the hospital board votes to ratify the contract at its meeting tonight, the matter will be settled.
“It’s to the benefit of both sides that we’ve settled this. It’s a win-win situation,” Machado said. “I don’t think the board will have any problem approving this.”
The hospital also reached a tentative agreement with the union that represents its licensed vocational nurses last week, as well, after only a month of negotiations.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
