Union nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., have approved a new labor contract with Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, which owns the hospital.
National Nurses United, which represents more than 1,600 Mission Hospital nurses, shared news of the new agreement in an Oct. 9 news release. The three-year agreement includes up to 29% wage increases for some nurses, a pilot program to ensure nurses can take meal and rest breaks during their shifts, new measures to ensure nurses are floated to units similar to their usual specialty, and the ability to use preferred names and personal pronouns on name badges.
"Mission Hospital is so important to Asheville and all of western North Carolina," Hannah Drummond, RN, a nurse in the hospital's catheterization lab recovery unit, said in the union's news release. "This contract is another step forward to making Mission the hospital it needs to be for our patients. Nurses are the backbone of Mission Hospital, and this contract adds steel to our spine."
Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell in statement to the The Citizen Times said,
"As we indicated all along, our goal was to reach an agreement that was fair for our colleagues and maintained the flexibility that allows us to operate in an ever-changing healthcare environment, and this contract meets those goals. Now, as our Western North Carolina community comes together to heal from Hurricane Helene, we are eager to move forward together in providing high-quality care to our patients."
Becker's has also reached out to Mission Health and will update the report as more information becomes available.
News of the deal comes about a month after nurses at the hospital voted in favor of authorizing a strike, citing concerns around patient safety, meal and rest break policies and staffing levels. The October agreement was reached before any strikes were called by the bargaining team.
Over the past year, HCA has faced growing criticism from state officials, clinicians and community advocates who claim the quality of care has declined since the for-profit system purchased Mission Health.The for-profit system is also facing a lawsuit from North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, which alleges HCA breached its purchase agreement of the hospital by cutting emergency and cancer care services.