CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Nurses from UI Health and hospital management agreed on a tentative, four-year contract, ending several months of hard-fought negotiations.
The nurses ended their seven-day strike on Saturday, Sept. 19, but the Illinois Nurses Association continued negotiations with hospital management, focusing on safe staffing, wages and improved personal protection for nurses facing COVID-19.
The contract must be ratified by a majority vote of all 1,400 nurses in the union before it takes effect. The vote will be held Monday, Sept. 28 to Wednesday, Sept. 30.
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The new agreement includes guaranteed rolling-90-day supply of PPE, universal N95 masking, exploration of permanent respirators with replaceable filters, the redesign of the hospital’s airflow system, a new negative pressure wing of the hospital, the construction of new windows throughout the hospital that allows staff to turn any room into a negative pressure room with portable HEPA filters.
Plus, hazard pay for work during pandemics, a commitment to hiring at least 160 FTEs for nurses, "creating natural nurse-to-patient ratios that improve core staffing and quality of care for every patient that comes to UI Health", fair wage increases, and a commitment from UI Health to lobby the University for extended paid parental leave for all University employees, according to a union news release.
Many of the nurses were affected by working on the front lines of the pandemic and this influenced their push for safer staffing in the hospital, the Illinois Nurses Association said.
“We are gratified to achieve this hard-fought victory after months of negotiations—this represents a vast improvement compared to where we were before the strike and we are happy to see that the hospital recognized the importance of safe staffing,” said INA President Doris Carroll, RN, in a statement. “The nurses were unified and strong and it paid off in what we think is a fair contract. We will turn our attention to helping our union brothers and sisters from SEIU Local 73, who are currently in the middle of their contract talks with UIH.”