Provided photo Nurses at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital ratified a new contract last week.

IRONWOOD – Nurses at Aspirus Ironwood Hospital voted last week to ratify a new union contract, according to a release from the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA). The contract takes effect immediately and runs through July 19, 2028.

The release says the agreement maintains the wage structure that rewards nurses’ experience and guarantees annual raises across-the-board. 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, the release says.

“Our goal was always to get a contract that supports Ironwood nurses so we can recruit and retain the skilled nurses our community needs,” Sarah Trudgeon, RN and president of the local MNA union at the Ironwood hospital, is quoted as saying in the Jan. 15 NMA release. “A strong nurses’ contract is a big part of protecting access to health care that we currently have in our area.”

During negotiations last November, Natalie Seaber, Aspirus Michigan Region president, said she would like to see that Aspirus and the union continue to work together to ensure the employees and registered nurses are provided the best package.

“From a money aspect, which is a small part of the contract negotiation,” Seaber said, “our offer is actually higher than what the MNA is asking for.”

Seaber said negotiations included systems for compensation. “Right now what we’re working through is something called step compensation,” she said. “The union would like to keep the step compensation. That says like first year, you get X, the second year this much per year.”

Aspirus wanted to abandon the pay system, believing it hindered recruiting new nurses.

“We want to go to a non-step, where we give the large amount up front,” Seaber said. “What we want to make sure is we are paying what is competitive, and that changes year over year. So, if they’re locked into what they had asked for, second year – I think it was a 2% increase – we might provide an average of 3% every year. So, the nurse then is behind by 1% on year two, and then down another percent by year three.

“So, now, we’re not competitive in our compensation to recruit nurses to come in. When you look at that math, we’ll be down by 2% in three years.”

“So, we would to see the step eliminated and have that money up front, then they are tied into what we do for annual merits every year, which on average is 3%, which is higher than they’re asking for.”

The NMA release says the agreement maintains the wage structure that rewards nurses’ experience and also guarantees annual raises across-the-board. 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.