At membership meetings on Wednesday, registered nurses at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (SVMH) voted overwhelmingly—by 98.5 percent—to ratify a new contract with the hospital, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today.

The contract will retain the vital clinical role of the charge nurse, a key issue in the contract fight. Nurses say the retention of this position will strengthen quality of care at the hospital—which is a win for the whole community.

“This is a great victory, and there’s such a feeling of empowerment, among the nurses, knowing we can now move forward with being advocates for our patients to the best of our ability. We stood up for what’s best for our patients and our profession, and this contract will really help uphold the highest level of care for our patients and our community in the years to come,” says Dianne Soria, an RN with SVMH for 35 years.

The charge nurse plays a key role in a hospital unit, as a kind of air-traffic controller, making clinical assignments of RNs to patients, assisting in emergencies and being available to assist bedside RNs with hands-on care as needed.  After more than a year of negotiations with administration, who wanted to replace the charge nurse with a management tier that would provide no hands-on direct patient care and not have an independent voice in advocating for patients—nurses have officially okayed a pact that retains this critical RN position.

“This ratification is the end result of nurses not backing down,” says Tricia Deblois, RN, who has been with SVMH for 25 years. “And—with the support of the wider community, including Assemblymember Luis Alejo and City Councilmember Tony Barrera—we now officially have a contract in place that will keep the charge nurse position, to the benefit of the best possible patient care.”

The new contract will run through March 2019.