NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 18, 2017 | PAGE 25
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
After nine months,
nurses in Florence
get new union contract
Nurses at PeaceHealth Peace
Harbor hospital in Florence
approved a new three-year
union contract Aug. 3 after
more than nine months of ne-
gotiations.
Peace Harbor is a 21-bed
acute care hospital; its roughly
75 registered nurses are repre-
sented by Oregon Nurses As-
sociation (ONA).
The new agreement pro-
vides for a across-the-board 3
percent wage increase retroac-
tive to Jan. 1, 2017, followed
by 3 percent increases in 2018
and 2019, and 2 percent in
2020. Peace Harbor nurses’
starting wage is now approxi-
mately $34 per hour. The new
contract also provides for in-
creased security measures for
nurses who work off-site, and
a financial penalty — double-
time pay — to discourage
managers from scheduling ex-
cessive on-call hours and
overtime.
ONA spokesperson Kevin
Mealy said nurses feel a spe-
cial gratitude to the local com-
munity for attending a com-
munity town hall organized by
the union, and for supporting
a May 1 informational picket.
Mealy said the public pressure
may have contributed to more
favorable contract settlement.
Nurses had been working
without a contract since Jan.
31, 2017. The new contract
runs through March 31, 2020.
PeaceHealth, headquar-
tered in Vancouver, Washing-
ton, is a nonprofit Catholic
health care system with 10
hospitals in Washington, Ore-
gon, and Alaska.
HAPPY LABOR DAY TO ALL
from
IRON WORKERS LOCAL 29
116 PROUD YEARS OF SERVING THE WORKING MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON
Joseph Bowers - F INANCIAL S-T/B USINESS M ANAGER
Shane Nehls - P RESIDENT /B USINESS A GENT
Rod Sprinkle- Vice President/B USINESS A GENT
Mike Alldritt - O RGANIZER
Tom Pearson - D EVELOPMENT R ESEARCH /D ISPATCHER
Executive Board
Eric Cole, Jade Worthington, Chuck Riggs,
Mike Newton, Travis Taylor,
Aimee Parmeter - A DMINISTRATIVE P ROFESSIONAL /B OOKKEEPER
11620 NE Ainsworth Circle, Suite 200, Portland, OR
503-774-0777