Dignity Health, nurse union agree to wage hikes of 13.5% over four years in tentative deal
Dignity Health and the union representing its more than 14,000 registered nurses reached a tentative contract agreement that increases wages by 13.5% over four years and provides greater protections against COVID-19, the union announced Friday.
“As we face yet another surge of COVID-19 patients filling up our hospitals, we are proud to have achieved additional health and safety protections for our RNs and patients,” said Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Dignity Health did not respond immediately to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
The nurses union said it will now seek full approval of the deal from its membership in California and Nevada, a voting process that will take several weeks.
The company agreed to ensure nurse participation in Dignity’s Pandemic Task Force and to provide the highest level of personal protective equipment to nurses, especially those most likely to be exposed to patients with COVID-19, the union said.
While pay increases were important, nurses also sought and won guarantees that there would be no takeaways on their pensions or retiree health plans. The tentative contract also contains improvements to tuition reimbursement and an agreement to allow union input into company initiatives involving workplace violence.
“We are hopeful that with the greater economic and health care gains we can recruit new nurses and retain experienced RNs to better protect our patients’ safety,” said Kathy Dennis, an RN negotiator and CNA board member.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, African Americans and Latinos have died from the respiratory disease at levels disproportionate to their representation in the overall population, bringing discussions on broader racial disparities in health care to the forefront of medicine. As part of their contract negotiations, Dignity nurses said they asked for and secured guarantees that their employer will fight racial injustice and commit to expanding implicit and unconscious bias training.
“Dignity Health agrees with the union that health care is a human right and that everyone should have access to quality health care, that we must end racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare outcomes, promote the delivery of culturally competent care and the diversity of our health care work force,” union leaders said in their statement.
