Nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital approve contract

After four years of negotiating, registered nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore voted in favor of a three-year contract Sept. 19 that ends mandatory overtime, provides the right to union representation and includes a 5- to 6-percent pay increase over three years.

“Over the long road to secure this contract, we won a lot of victories, from equipment improvements to staffing improvements to raises, through organizing and putting pressure on the hospital,” said Melissa LaRue, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit, in a news release from National Nurses United.“Now that we have a contract, we are empowered, ready to hold Ascension accountable to it and ready to keep up the fight for a hospital that puts patients over profits.”

The contract, which runs through September 2029, includes provisions related to staffing, workplace safety, employee rights and compensation. 

Among its provisions are limits on assigning nurses to units outside their clinical competency and ending mandatory overtime. It also includes workplace violence prevention measures, including immediate security assistance for nurses and protections for those who raise safety concerns, according to the news release.

The agreement establishes procedures related to arbitration, discipline and union representation. It includes pay increases, bars mass layoffs of per diem nurses and provides protections to keep the contract in effect if the hospital changes ownership.

In a Sept. 21 written statement to the Catholic Review, hospital officials said they were “pleased St. Agnes registered nurses have ratified their new contract.” 

“We look forward to continuing to work together to improve the health of the communities we are privileged to serve,” the statement said.

More than 600 nurses at St. Agnes are represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United.

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