FLINT, Mich. – Good news for AFSCME nurses in Flint. After a hard fight, they have secured a fair contract that puts patient safety first.
Last week, nurses who are members of Local 875 (AFSCME Michigan) and work for McLaren Flint Hospital voted by a large margin to approve a four-year tentative agreement that includes strong patient safety and welfare provisions — something the nurses pushed hard for.
“Throughout our negotiations with McLaren, nurses stayed strong and united to win a fair contract that puts our patients first,” said Kelly Indish, and registered nurse (RN) and president of Local 875. “The agreement is a significant step forward for members of this union, and more importantly, the patients we fight for every single day. It will make sure we can recruit and retain the safe staffing levels our patients deserve because it includes many of the proposals we bargained for.”
Highlights of the new contract include:
- A $10 per hour wage increase for all nurses
- Adding lead RNs
- Establishing a new safety committee made up of union members and management representatives
- Creating an additional health insurance option for McLaren Flint nurses.
Negotiations for the new contract began in January. Throughout the contentious process, the nurses took collective action and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their neighbors and friends in the Flint labor movement.
Local 875 members say solidarity is the reason they succeeded.
“We showed everyone what a strong union can achieve when we stand together for the people we’re here to serve,” said Indish, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “We couldn’t have reached this point without the support we got from thousands of our neighbors and workers from other unions, and we can’t thank them enough.”
More than 850 nurses who are members of Local 875 made better patient safety their top priority during contract talks, saying high nurse-to-patient ratios stretch employees to the limit and jeopardize patient safety and welfare. They also pushed for more affordable health insurance, higher on-call pay and wage increases.