After an arduous negotiation that lasted nearly a year and included an informational picket and the threat of a strike, workers at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro have ratified their first union contract with wage increases ranging from 8 percent to 58 percent.
The agreement covers nearly 600 licensed vocational nurses, nursing assistants, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, mental health aides, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, dietitians, food service workers, and other caregivers at the 231-bed hospital, which includes the area’s largest subacute care center.
Negotiations were difficult, with the employer at one point engaging in “regressive bargaining” when it presented a wage proposal that was less than its original proposal and later on digging its heels on a wage freeze that would have affected more than 100 workers.
Workers responded by uniting in an informational picket in August, and in December approved a strike vote authorization. The unity paid off, as it pushed the employer to offer a proposal guaranteeing an average 24 percent wage increase that workers overwhelmingly approved.
“When they saw that 94 percent of members voted to strike, that’s when they realized we were truly united in the fight,” said Judith Hernandez, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who has worked at San Pedro for 27 years.
Hernandez, a member of the Bargaining Team, said it was that unity that kept them going through all those months of negotiations.
“That made a difference; all of us having the same goal,” she said. “We rallied and encouraged each other and communicated with each other until we reached that goal.”
The collective agreement includes a wage grid for each job classification, recognition of CNA certifications as of August 6, 2024 that places nursing assistants on the higher CNA wage grid and provides preceptor pay and higher standby pay.
For Hernandez, that wage scale means she will get a 33.2 percent raise over the life of the contract, a huge increase from her last annual merit increase of 2.75 percent.
“With this contract, I’ve gotten a pay increase that would have taken a decade to see,” she said. “I could have never dreamed of a yearly percentage increase like this. That’s more than I’ve ever made in the 27 years that I’ve been there.”
“They’ve been underpaying me for a long time.”
Other provisions in the contract:
- A three-step grievance procedure
- Seniority rights with regard to layoffs, bidding on a new position, and conflicts in vacation scheduling
- Part-time and Per Diem conversion to full-time and part-time positions
- Protections against subcontracting union members’ work
- Protection for union members’ jobs in the event the hospital is sold
That job security is something Hernandez appreciates. After 27 years in San Pedro, she’s part of that community and wants to continue serving the patients there.
She said this contract proves true the motto the used to see on an old friend’s truck: “Live better, work union.”
“You truly need to work union to live better,” she said.
