NUHW members win raises and time to focus on health and safety concerns with new contracts
Over the past month, NUHW members at three hospitals settled one-year contracts, gaining wage increases and more time to focus on health and safety concerns during an unprecedented healthcare crisis.
The contracts at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland include no takeaways and provide workers with wage increases of at least 3 percent over the next year.
The contract at Salinas Valley Memorial will cover 14 new members who work as rehabilitation therapists.
“We did a good job quickly recognizing the magnitude of the pandemic and switching gears to make sure that we could secure good raises during such an uncertain time, said Christina Rodriquez, a respiratory therapist at Fountain Valley. “Now we must stay vigilant to protect our colleagues from losing shifts or not having sufficient PPE during the pandemic.”
As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear in March, many NUHW bargaining committees decided to seek one-year contracts to secure more time to focus on health and safety issues due to the pandemic.
While it remains unclear how the pandemic will impact the healthcare industry long term, the contracts NUHW members won in May will put them in a stronger position to win even better contracts going forward, while devoting their immediate attention to securing the highest standards for PPE, COVID-testing and other safety measures.