Ingalls nurses OK first-ever contract; includes wage hike
Registered nurses at University of Chicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital have approved their firstever contract that provides wage hikes and paid family leave, according to National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, which represents nurses at the Harvey hospital.
The union said Monday the average across-theboard salary increase is 12.6% over the four-year agreement, with some nurses seeing increases as much as 48.5%.
The agreement also establishes a “fair and transparent wage grid that sets salary based on years of experience rather than market fluctuations or management whim,” the union said in a news release announcing the contract ratification.
Nurses would also be provided with six weeks of paid family leave for the birth or adoption of a child, regardless of the parent’s gender, according to the union, which represents 450 nurses at Ingalls. of Nurses voted 276-109 in October 2019 to be represented by the union, which also represents nurses at University of Chicago Medicine in Chicago.
“We are clear that this four-year contract will lead to improvements in patient care at Ingalls as the nurses will now have a real say in the decision-making process,” Lisa Vaughn, a registered nurse who works in Ingalls’ intensive care unit, was quoted in the release.
Under the agreement, hospital management has committed to hire nurses with associate degrees, according to the union.
“We are very proud we were able to secure these opportunities for associate degree nurses, who are too often shut out of acute-care hospital settings although they prove themselves to be fully competent as they must pass the same board exam as nurses with bachelor’s degrees,” said Donna Dubois, an Ingalls nurse. “This important commitment will go a long way toward providing opportunities for nurses who are graduating from the surrounding community colleges.”
Other provisions of the contract include establishing a Professional Practice Committee that will address issues nurses have with staffing and patient care, as well as a workplace violence committee and infectious disease committee, according to the union.
Ingalls Hospital administration released a statement Monday thanking the bargaining teams “for working together to find an equitable compromise for the good of our patients, our community and each other.”