LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nurses and healthcare workers from several Las Vegas hospitals won a tentative agreement for a union contract that is said to help ensure retention, recruitment, and recognition of staff to protect quality patient care, SEIU Nevada announced Thursday.
On Wednesday, dozens of workers from Sunrise, MountainView, and Southern Hills Hospitals, all owned by HCA Healthcare, held a rally in front of Sunrise Hospital and then went to a negotiation session that lasted right up to the contract expiration deadline at midnight.
The tentative agreement covers 4,700 employees including registered nurses, nursing assistants, techs, lab workers, pharmacy workers, environmental services workers, and several other job classifications that provide patient care and make hospitals tun.
The agreement still needs to be ratified by a vote of the union membership. The ratification vote is expected to happen in mid-Hune and workers said that the agreement is a crucial step forward “in addressing the severe, ongoing impacts of the pandemic.”
The contract would run until March 31, 2026. The contract includes the following:
- A 13.75% wage increase over 3 years, effective the first full pay period in July
- An additional $2.25 million for wage adjustments to bring job classifications that are below market up to competitive rates
- No cuts, including protection of the employer-paid healthcare plan
- A ban on subcontracting imaging techs at MountainView (workers already have that union protection at Sunrise and Southern Hills)
- Improvements in on-call pay, scheduling practices, disciplinary procedures, and many other key provisions
“This agreement is a tremendous step in the right direction and recognizes the value of every member of the healthcare delivery team so that we can provide the very best care to our patients,” said Adrian Martinez, who has been a registered nurse at Southern Hills Hospital for 11 years. “I went into nursing because I always wanted to help people, and this profession gives me a sense of purpose. It was especially fulfilling to take care of my community during the pandemic. But it was also exhausting working alongside my fellow critical care nurses in the intensive care unit and trying to save hundreds of Covid patients struggling to breathe. My three sons were one, four and five years old at the time and I had to avoid them for months to keep them safe. This agreement acknowledges those sacrifices and our hard work, and will help retain and recruit the strong, sustainable healthcare workforce that our community urgently needs moving forward.”
SEIU Nevada Local 1107 is the largest healthcare and public service union in Nevada, representing nearly 20,000 workers.