Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Ascension St. Agnes Nurses Ratify First Union Contract

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) members who work at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore have overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying their first collective bargaining agreement.

After years of negotiations and strikes, registered nurses (RNs) have won an agreement that includes a 5%–6% pay increase, staff staffing improvements, a formalized grievance procedure, workplace violence prevention language and more.

“Over the long road to secure this contract, we won a lot of victories, from equipment improvements to staffing improvements to raises, through organizing and putting pressure on the hospital,” said Melissa LaRue, RN in the intensive care unit. “Now that we have a contract, we are empowered, ready to hold Ascension accountable to it, and ready to keep up the fight for a hospital that puts patients over profits.”