MEDFORD, Ore. – Nurses at Asante Regional Medical Center have wrapped up their union vote on the tentative agreement they made with the hospital.
The union has been asking for adequate staffing, increase in wages, additional resources and more. And after the tentative agreement was reached late last month, the union voted overwhelmingly to ratify the terms.
Oregon Nurses Association representatives say that 99% of RRMC nurses voted yes to the new contract over the weekend. This means that there will be several changes that go into effect immediately. One of the main ones is that the hospital has to focus more on recruiting nurses to the Rogue Valley.
ONA representatives say that this is going to be done by offering positions with equitable wages and benefits.
“We want to continue to grow the workforce locally and keep the nurses that work at Rogue Regional in Rogue Regional and not have them leave for other parts of the state or down to California,” said David Baca, ONA Negotiator.
ONA representatives also say the new patient pavilion building set to open next year at Rogue Regional will require an additional 250 nurses to staff.
The ONA hopes that these new terms will attract more nurses from other areas but also encouraged local nursing students to stay. They say that with adequate staffing, it will improve the nurses ability to provide quality patient care.
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