Nurses at the University of Michigan overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new, four-year contract agreement over the weekend. The $273 million, four-year pact ratified over the weekend will run through March 2026.
University of Michigan’s Professional Nurses Council president, Renee Curtis, says it covered many key provisions. From her perspective, the most important were guarantees for enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios that will carry fines should the university fail to comply.
“It guarantees a nurse at every patient’s bedside. And there will be workload numbers where the number of patients will be the amount that nurses can safely take care of.”
The pact also includes an end to mandatory overtime, except in emergencies. It also contains more than 22% wage increases over the life of the contract. The University of Michigan Board of Regents must still approve the contract.
Both the union and Michigan Medicine officials say the contract will help retain and recruit more nurses as they are badly needed.