Burden of enforcing contracts falling on healthcare union members to ‘speak up’

At Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, nurses won their first contract in July 2021, with language guaranteeing sufficient staffing in each unit based on the number of patients, additional pay for nurses working overtime and extra shifts, and adequate personal protective equipment meeting federal, state and local guidelines. The contract also states nurses can’t be floated to units where they haven’t been trained. 

Since then,…