MarinHealth nurses ratify new three-year contract
Registered nurses at MarinHealth Medical Center voted to ratify a new three-year contract this week.
“Ninety-five percent of the nurses voted to approve the contract; the nurses are very happy,” said Lynn Warner, a 17-year nurse at the hospital and the nurses’ chief representative on the bargaining team.
In a statement, MarinHealth wrote that among other things the new contract will result in an “increased ability to recruit qualified nurses by adjusting the starting compensation for qualified nurses newly entering the organization.”
The agreement, ratified on Monday, features a 16.5% wage increase over three years. The nurses will receive a 5% wage hike in April, a 5.5% increase in July and a final 6% increase in July 2024.
In addition to raises for all nurses, the agreement includes an additional one-time increase in pay for nurses who have worked at the hospital for 30 years.
MarinHealth nurses currently receive step increases in pay based on how long they have worked at the hospital, but once a nurse has been there for 25 years, those step increases end. Now nurses will get a 2.5% increase when they have worked at the hospital for 30 years.
The nurses convinced MarinHealth to drop a proposal for the nurses to begin sharing some of the cost for HMO coverage and to pay higher rates for preferred provider organization coverage.
HMO coverage will continue to be provided free to nurses and their children. Beginning in January 2024, however, the spouses of nurses will have to begin paying part of the cost for their coverage. There will be no change in the cost sharing for PPO coverage.
The contract includes a commitment by management to provide break relief to nurses working on most units by ensuring there are other nurses to cover their patients.
Other highlights from the agreement include a new paid holiday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and provisions to ensure nurses get personal protective equipment when caring for patients suspected of having COVID-19.
Warner said securing the contract “was a long hard fight.”
MarinHealth nurses had announced plans for a one-day strike on Tuesday before an agreement was reached on March 21. The nurses’ contract expired on July 31, and there had been at least 21 previous bargaining meetings.
Nurses asserted that uncompetitive wages at the hospital were contributing to insufficient staffing and resulting in unsafe conditions. But in its statement, MarinHealth wrote, “None of the issues were related to patient safety.”
“Through the solidarity of nurses, we were able to secure one of the strongest contracts we’ve had in years,” said Kathleen Sickert, a nurse in the emergency unit at MarinHealth, in a statement.
The hospital’s 600 nurses are represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.