Workers providing health care and services at Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital in Lincoln City voted to approve a new contract with hospital management, union officials announced Monday. 

The agreement covers 115 workers represented by the Service Employees Local 49, including emergency room technicians, certified nursing assistants, respiratory care practitioners, radiologic technologists, phlebotomist, pharmacy technicians, patient access representatives, housekeepers and dietary staff. 

The negotiations at times were contentious, as workers rallied publicly and said they made less than staff at other Oregon hospitals owned by Samaritan Health Services, a nonprofit network of hospitals and clinics. 

For Samaritan health care workers in Lincoln City, the average wage increase for the duration of the new three-year contract is 22.48%, or an average 10% increase the first year. That’s an average raise of $2.42 an hour, according to the union.

Rachel Eggleton, a certified nursing assistant and member of the bargaining team, told The Lund Report that the new contract should help the hospital attract more workers.

“I believe it’s a very positive step,” she said. “I’m just going to base it on our last contract. We made a huge leap. We increased a lot of wages. It’s very timely, especially with what’s happening with our economy.”

In a statement to The Lund Report, Dr. Lesley Ogden, CEO of Samaritan North Lincoln, said: “We were very pleased to reach an agreement with the SEIU bargaining team in the early hours of June 16, which was then overwhelmingly ratified the following week. The contract includes selective wage adjustments on numerous job classifications as well as across the board annual increases for everyone over the next three years. I greatly appreciate the hard work from both sides to get this contract in place for our Samaritan North Lincoln employees so they can begin receiving their much-deserved pay increases.”

Other workers praised the new contract. 

“I”m overwhelmed with the gains in wages that we’re receiving,” said Patricia Tutt, a sterile processing technician at the hospital, in a statement. “I’m receiving a 12.75% (raise) right away, and it’s going to make a huge difference in my life. I will be able to breathe a little and just live and work without the worry and stress of wondering whether I will be able to keep a roof over my children’s head.”  

The agreement comes amid heightened organizing among health care workers since COVID-19 began hammering the health care industry. Nurses at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland recently rejected a tentative agreement and voted to authorize the nurses union to call a strike at the 1,600-nurse hospital if negotiations fail to progress. The union, the Oregon Nurses Association, has not yet done so.

Nurses at two other Providence-affiliated hospitals, Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center in Oregon City, have also voted independently to authorize separate strikes if negotiations at those hospitals continue to stall.

You can reach Ben Botkin at [email protected] or via Twitter @BenBotkin1.