Staff at Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) ratified a new three-year contract Oct. 6. The unit of 64 union reps, organizers and support staff is represented by Teamsters Local 223, and had been without a contract since the previous one expired June 30. ONA represents over 14,000 registered nurses at hospitals and clinics throughout the state.
Members held an informational picket outside ONA headquarters in July and another outside the Oregon AFL-CIO convention in Seaside Sept. 6, and they even voted to authorize a strike if they couldn’t get agreement. In the end they came to terms on a fully recommended contract.
The new agreement provides raises of 5%, 3%, and 3% over three years, with the first raise retroactive to June 30. It also reduces wage schedules from four to two: Going forward most employees will be in the salaried pay schedule that now ranges from $81,899 to $149,497 depending on experience, and a handful will be in an hourly pay schedule that now starts at $33.40 and tops out at $60.97 after 13 years.
The new contract also adds May Day as a paid holiday. It increases contributions to the Teamster-sponsored pension to $3.75 an hour, up by $1. And it maintains fully paid health insurance and an automatic employer contribution to a 401(k) that starts at 3% and tops out at 8% after eight years.
