Ascension Saint Agnes Nurses Ratify First-Ever Union Contract

First Collective Bargaining Agreement

The agreement establishes a formal framework through which nurses can address workplace and professional practice issues with hospital management.

For the more than 600 nurses covered by the contract, the agreement provides defined procedures for addressing disputes and workplace concerns rather than relying exclusively on individual discussions between employees and management.

The contract includes formal grievance and arbitration procedures, giving nurses an established process for raising issues covered by the agreement.

The ratification also represents an important organizational change for nurses at Saint Agnes, establishing a negotiated framework for employment conditions for the next three years.

Safe Staffing Provisions

One of the major areas addressed by the agreement is safe staffing.

Staffing levels can directly affect how nurses organize patient care, manage workloads and respond to changing patient needs. The new agreement establishes provisions intended to address staffing concerns and creates a formal structure for nurses and management to discuss these issues.

Establishing balanced clinician workloads directly reinforces therapeutic outcomes across inpatient care teams, fostering smoother daily collaboration with attending Physicians / MD-DO who count on stable nurse-to-patient ratios for meticulous post-operative monitoring and prompt medication titration.

The contract also provides for committees focused specifically on staffing and professional practice.

These committees can provide a structured forum for nurses to raise concerns about clinical conditions and participate in discussions related to nursing practice.

Limits on Floating

The agreement also establishes restrictions on floating nurses outside their clinical competency.

In hospital nursing, floating can be used to respond to changing staffing requirements by assigning nurses to different units. However, differences in patient populations, equipment and clinical procedures can require nurses to have appropriate knowledge and skills for the area in which they are working.

The new contract addresses this issue by establishing protections around assignments outside a nurse's usual clinical area.

Rather than reassigning core bedside staff across incompatible subspecialties during census surges, hospital systems often contract specialized per-diem professionals and qualified Registered Nurses (RN) / Travel Nursing to bridge clinical gaps without compromising unit-specific competencies.

The provision is connected to the broader focus on patient safety and ensuring that nurses are placed in clinical environments where their training and competencies are appropriate for the patients they are expected to care for.

End to Mandatory Overtime

Another significant provision is the elimination of mandatory overtime for nurses covered by the agreement.

Mandatory overtime has been a longstanding issue in nursing workforce discussions, particularly in environments where staffing shortages can increase pressure on existing employees.

By establishing contractual limits on mandatory overtime, the agreement creates a defined employment standard for nurses at Saint Agnes.

The change is also relevant to retention. Extended or unpredictable work schedules can contribute to fatigue and dissatisfaction among healthcare workers, making scheduling and workload important considerations for hospitals attempting to retain experienced nurses.

Workplace Violence Protections

The contract includes provisions addressing workplace violence, another major concern for hospital nurses.

Nurses and other healthcare workers can encounter aggressive behavior from patients, visitors and others in clinical environments. The agreement establishes additional protections, including access to security support.

The contract also includes protections for nurses who raise concerns related to patient safety.

These provisions create a formal framework for nurses to report safety issues without the process being treated simply as an individual employment matter.

Professional Practice

The agreement also creates mechanisms for nurses to participate in discussions about professional practice.

Committees focused on professional practice can provide nurses with a structured avenue to address issues affecting the delivery of care, clinical standards and working conditions.

By uniting bedside staff with departmental clinical leaders and advanced practice Nurse Practitioners (NP), these committees help institutionalize evidence-based clinical guidelines and streamline interdisciplinary escalation protocols.

This type of participation can be particularly relevant in complex hospital environments, where frontline nurses may identify operational or clinical issues that are not immediately visible at the administrative level.

Wage Increases

The contract also includes economic provisions.

Nurses covered by the agreement will receive pay increases ranging from 5% to 6% over the three-year contract period.

The wage provisions provide a defined compensation schedule through September 2029, while the broader agreement establishes other employment protections and procedures.

Compensation is one component of nurse retention, but the contract combines wage increases with provisions addressing staffing, overtime, workplace safety and professional practice.

Grievance and Arbitration

Another important component is the establishment of formal grievance and arbitration procedures.

A grievance process gives nurses a defined mechanism for challenging alleged violations of the collective bargaining agreement or raising other issues covered by its terms.

Arbitration provides an additional formal process for resolving disputes when they cannot be resolved through the internal grievance procedure.

Together, these provisions create a structured process for addressing disagreements during the life of the contract.

Implications for Nurse Retention

The agreement comes at a time when hospitals across the United States continue to focus on recruiting and retaining experienced nurses.

Retention is influenced by multiple factors, including compensation, staffing levels, workload, scheduling, workplace safety and opportunities for professional participation.

The Saint Agnes agreement addresses several of these factors simultaneously.

In acute hospital settings where intense on-site demands have previously driven experienced nurses toward remote triage and flexible Telehealth / Remote / Virtual Jobs, establishing reliable shift schedules and workplace protections provides a strong incentive to remain at the inpatient bedside.

By combining wage increases with staffing provisions, limits on mandatory overtime, workplace violence protections and professional practice mechanisms, the contract establishes a broad set of workplace standards for the nurses it covers.

Three-Year Contract

The agreement will govern working conditions at Ascension Saint Agnes from September 2026 through September 2029.

During that period, the provisions covering staffing, floating, overtime, workplace safety, compensation and dispute resolution will provide the contractual framework for the hospital's more than 600 represented nurses.

The ratification marks a new stage in labor relations at Saint Agnes and establishes formal processes through which nurses can participate in discussions about their working environment and professional practice.

For the hospital's nursing workforce, the three-year agreement provides defined standards covering both economic issues and day-to-day clinical working conditions.