ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan nurses union has ratified its contract with the UM Health System and Michigan Medicine, guaranteeing a $273-million compensation package during the next four years.
The UM Professional Nurses Council approved the contract late Saturday, Oct. 1, after more than seven months of negotiations, which led to a tentative agreement in late September. The union will work with the health system immediately to implement the new benefits and policy changes, officials said.
The multi-million employment agreement includes a 22.5% raise in the four years of the contract, a $5,000 bonus for each nurse, elimination on mandatory overtime and expanded staffing guidelines, officials said.
Read more: Nurses reach tentative agreement with University of Michigan
UMPNC had operated without a contract for the last two months amid negotiations. The resulting contract approved shows the health system’s gratitude towards its nurses, said Dr. Marschall Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine.
“We are grateful that our nurses choose to work and build their careers at University of Michigan Health,” he said in a statement. “We are pleased to offer a very competitive package that recognizes the value our nurses bring to our patients and our organization.”
UM Health President Dr. David Miller thanked the negotiating team for its work getting the contract to the finish line the last few months, signaling that it showed “our shared interest in moving UM Health forward together,” he said.
The compensation package includes the following provisions:
- Nurse practitioners are now in a salary step model that allows for incremental pay raises.
- All other nurses will receive a 7.5% pay increase in year one, while other bargaining unit members will receive a 6% increase in year two, 5% in year three and 4% in year four.
- The $5,000 lump sum bonus will be delivered in 2022 to all members of UMPNC, while all current nurses still employed at Michigan Medicine by March 31, 2026 will see a $2,000 retention bonus.
Both parties agreed on staffing guidelines that allow for hiring to “continue the industry leading staffing levels that we have historically maintained,” officials said, while also creating a process for managing low staffing levels should the situation arise.
More than 1,000 nurses were hired at Michigan Medicine from July 2021 to May 2022, and the job vacancy rate of 5% in the UM health system outpaces the national average of 17%.
Mandatory overtime will end except for defined emergency situations.
“We believe this generous package will help us continue to retain and recruit excellent nurses,” Chief Nurse Executive Nancy May said in a statement. “We look forward to working with our nursing community as we continue our efforts to bring top-ranked healthcare to our patients and communities across the state and beyond.”
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