A few dozen of NUHW’s newest members are ending 2024 with their first-ever union contracts.
At Rogers Behavioral Health in San Diego, 19 workers, including mental health therapists, registered nurses, and clinic assistants, reached an agreement that was built on the foundation of a contract for their counterparts at a Rogers facility in the Bay Area.
That contract with the company, which provides mental health services, included:
- Limits on caseloads.
- Limits on how many newly admitted patients can be assigned to a therapist or a registered nurse.
- A provision allowing workers to waive their no-strike clause, if the employer seeks to change working conditions.
- A prohibition against any job losses due to new technology such as artificial intelligence.
That agreement spurred the San Diego workers to also join NUHW. Their new contract also includes wage scales that will immediately provide workers with raises ranging from 3 to 24 percent, as well as 5+ percent wage increases in each of the next three years.
“We’re off to a great start,” said Laurel Quinlan, a therapist at Rogers San Diego. “We’re appreciative of what our colleagues at Rogers Walnut Creek accomplished, and we’re excited to be united with all the Rogers workers in California as members of NUHW.”
At Seton Medical Center in Daly City, about 14 pharmacists who joined their colleagues as NUHW members will get 12 percent raises within the first three months of their contract. The contract also requires AHMC Healthcare, the for-profit company that owns Seton, to establish a wage scale that can result in further wage increases before the contract expires in December, 2025.
“This contract is a huge step forward, but we’re eager to keep winning good contracts and catching up to our peers at other hospitals,” said Peggy Chiu Wong, a pharmacist at the hospital. “With the unity we showed in our first contract negotiations, I’m sure we can do it.”
