Aspirus Ironwood and the nurses that work there have reached a new union contract.
The agreement maintains the wage structure that rewards nurses’ experience and also guarantees annual raises across-the-board, according the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) union.
It includes increased pay for on-call and night shifts and a cap on how much nurses pay for health insurance, as well as improved language around employer disclosure of workplace violence incidents.
“We're happy we got most of what we all wanted, and you know we're really proud of that. It's been a long road to get to where we are, so we are very happy,” said Sarah Trudgeon, an RN and president of the local Michigan Nurses Association union at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital.
Aspirus and the nurses in the union have been negotiating since May of last year.
Trudgeon feels that, between the Ontonagon Hospital Closure and some services ending at other hospitals, health care has been dwindling in the U.P.
“We're one of the only hospitals on the western side of the UP. It's very important that we have a contract so we're able to advocate for our patients in our community to keep our hospital functioning,” said Trudgeon.
In a statement provided to WXPR, Aspirus Health said, “We are pleased that our nurse colleagues at Aspirus Ironwood have voted to ratify a new agreement, which includes both meaningful economic proposals, as well as important system-wide alignment on key components of compensation such as call pay, shift differential and charge pay. This system alignment of premiums results in increased compensation for our nurses and allows Ironwood to remain competitive in the market for recruitment and retention purposes. We are eager to move forward and further our commitment to our patients, people and communities.”
The new contract runs through July 19, 2028.
Trudgeon also added that their union is still working to possibly get the OB department back open.
Aspirus announced in September that Dec. 31 was the last day for labor and delivery at Ironwood hospital.
“We would love to have it back open, but we're still kind of going through the whole process with that. I know there was a lot of questions about what we're doing with OB closing,” said Trudgeon. “We still have some stuff that we're trying to figure out, and it's a process, unfortunately.”
Michigan Nurses Association nurses at other Aspirus U.P. hospitals continue negotiating new contracts including at Aspirus Iron River and Aspirus Keweenaw.
