Members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore have ratified their first labor contract.
The contract was ratified Sept. 19 and covers more than 600 nurses at Ascension St. Agnes, according to a union news release. The agreement runs from September 2026 to September 2029.
According to the union, the three-year agreement includes a 5% to 6% pay increase over three years. The union said it also ends the practice of floating nurses to units outside their clinical competency, ends mandatory overtime, establishes a professional practice committee and a staffing issues committee and adds workplace violence prevention language. Other provisions include a grievance procedure with the right to arbitration, just cause and progressive discipline standards, and successorship protections if hospital ownership changes.
“The contract provides much-needed protections against unsafe floating, unfair discipline, and workplace violence,” Robin Buckner, RN, said in the release. “We won a grievance procedure, a pay scale and much more. As nurses, we now have a voice to advocate for safe staffing so that our patients get the best care.”
In a statement shared with Becker’s, an Ascension St. Agnes spokesperson said, “We are pleased St. Agnes registered nurses have ratified their new contract. We look forward to continuing to work together to improve the health of the communities we are privileged to serve.”
The nurses unionized in 2023.
