Nurses at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Ca. — who voted to join the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses United (NNU) by 88.6 percent in November 2018 — overwhelmingly ratified their historic first contract, CNA/NNU announced today.

“We will now have a real voice in making decisions on how we care for our patients,” said Fiona John, RN and member of the bargaining team. “We will have a say on policies before they are implemented by management. We can ensure that decisions will not impact patient care adversely.”

“This vote is a huge victory,” said Shelly Perks, RN and member of the bargaining team. “We won important protections for our patients, for safe staffing, and for recruiting and retaining experienced nurses for our community. Our RNs can be very proud of what we accomplished.”

Highlights of the contract include:

• Safe staffing provisions, including meal and rest break language as well as protections against unsafe floating. Floating is a management practice where nurses are reassigned to units of the hospital outside their area of expertise. The contract includes language that establishes floating procedures.
• The establishment of a Professional Performance Committee (PPC) that is recognized by management to address any issues nurses have with staffing and patient care.
• Clear and transparent workplace rules on job vacancies, scheduling, and other work procedures.
• Economic gains to help with nurse recruitment and retention, including increases to PTO, retirement, and the establishment of a step scale in the first year of the contract. Under this new fair and equitable wage system, some nurses will receive increases of up to 24 percent over the contract term. In addition, nurses wages will be based on years of acute care experience; RNs’ years of experience working overseas shall be counted equally.

CNA represents more than 700 nurses at Methodist Hospital. The votes were counted last night.

The California Nurses Association has 100,000 members and is a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 150,000 members nationwide. CNA/NNU plays a leadership role in safeguarding the health and safety of RNs and their patients and has won landmark legislation in the areas of staffing, safe patient handling, infectious disease, and workplace violence prevention.