S FR E P O RTE R .CO M / N E WS
Contract to Attract
BY WILLIAM MELHADO w i l l i a m @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
I
n the early months of the pandemic, the public offered doctors, nurses and other medical providers a taste of appreciation for their work as hospitals swelled with COVID-19 patients. Over a year later that gratitude has yet to translate into tangible benefits for many health care providers. But for another group of essential workers at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center—those working in service and maintenance areas of the hospital system—financial benefits have arrived. At the end of July, the medical center and hospital workers’ union agreed to a new three-year contract for service and maintenance employees, increasing the minimum wage and differential benefits and clarifying the discipline article to address bullying, according to a union organizer. Neither hospital officials nor the union would share the contract with SFR. The renewed contract—which begins Oct. 1—comes in response to the challenges many other companies face: employee shortages and retention concerns. “What we are experiencing is very similar to all businesses in Santa Fe
needed the money. [With] negotiations you only have so much to go with, so we felt that the employees needed the wages now,” says Ulmer, adding that the wage increase will make hospital jobs more attractive to new hires. In April 2020, Christus put 300 employees on “temporary low volume leave” for 90 days in response to declining patient numbers. The medical center is the third largest employer in the Santa Fe area, after the state and Los Alamos National Laboratory, with 2,300 employees. Roughly 30% of those employees are represented by District 1199NM. The union represents 307 nurses, 108 licensed techs and 279 service and maintenance
workers under three separate contracts. Ortiz explains that employees working in a COVID unit or in rooms where a patient tested positive receive an additional $10 per hour. The union and the hospital signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the benefit in February of 2020. and Northern New Mexico,” Christus “I believe we were the first hospital that President and CEO Lillian Montoya offered a COVID bonus to our employees writes to SFR. “This includes recruiting in New Mexico,” Ulmer tells SFR. and retaining food and nutrition staff, Union leadership echoes the hospital environmental services staff and nursing administration’s need for attracting and assistants.” retaining workers. James Ortiz, president of District “For the service workers, it’s been low. 1199NM, the local chapter of the National We’re really hurting right now,” Ortiz Union of Hospital and Health Care tells SFR. “That’s where we, in the hospiEmployees, confirms the pandemic put tal, felt that bringing up the wages would immense pressure on hiring and mainhelp in recruiting and retaining taining a sufficient workforce. employees.” He also knows the value of his The challenges of maintainunion members’ efforts: “We ing a sufficient service work force have a great working relationin the hospitals led Ortiz and ship with the hospital, so they his union colleagues to research know these are hard jobs.” wages in Santa Fe and elsewhere Union leaders say the curin New Mexico. “We wanted to rent contract ends Sept. 30. The beat everybody else so we can get new agreement, Ortiz says, was people—so we can attract people quickly ratified by the union afto the positions,” he says. ter negotiations in July. Both the union and the medThe agreement settled on ical center hope the increase in both immediate and future base pay will draw in new workbenefits for hospital workers. ers to help alleviate the burden In addition to securing the Ortiz says has been placed on $15.25 minimum wage for new service and maintenance ememployees, differential pay inployees over the last year and a creases will come in October of half. Montoya also hopes to re2022. Employees receive differtain employees, tracking them ential pay when working eveinto other positions in the medning, night or weekend shifts. ical group. According to union leadership, “This was a limited openevening workers will receive er, and we chose to focus prian additional $2 per hour, night marily on wages to ensure they workers will earn $4 more, and remain competitive and that employees working on weekwe can continue to recruit and ends will receive $3 extra. retain our health care teams,” Union organizer Yolanda Montoya writes to SFR, noting Ulmer says negotiations foMichael Martinez, a union member who works in the Christus that “these positions are actucused on immediate support emergency department, was part of the negotion team that ally a great gateway to other cawhile also attracting new workformed the new contract. reers” with Christus. ers. ”We felt the employees COURTESY DISTRICT 1199NM
Hospital workers’ union and Christus St. Vincent strike new three-year agreement with immediate and future benefits to attract service and maintenance employees
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AUGUST 18-24, 2021
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