The largest not-for-profit hospital care provider in California has improved working conditions by partnering with employees and their unions to advance patient care.

In Partnership With: AFSCME, CNA, CHEU, ESC, IBT, LIUNA, SEIU, UNITE HERE

Advancing patient care by improving working conditions

Last year, CHW agreed to a four-year contract with SEIU covering 14,000 employees at 28 California facilities. This agreement goes above and beyond the usual pay-and-benefits provisions to include joint labor-management committees to solve staffing issues; shared goals to improve patient care; a $4 million training fund; and wage and benefit increases to recruit, retain, and develop a highly-skilled workforce.

A similar agreement was reached with the California Nurses Association in 2005, which covers approximately 4,700 nurses at 12 CHW hospitals in Northern and Central California. The contract provides a 26 percent increase in wages and benefits over the next four years, and establishes an oversight committee to evaluate the nurses’ pension plan. CHW also agreed to adopt a nurse-to-patient ratio with a maximum of five patients for each registered nurse in general medical units, even though a California state law requiring safe staffing level ratios was being challenged during contract negotiations.

The positive work environment that results from such collaboration between management and employees may very well be one of the reasons that CHW’s 2004 satisfaction survey showed a 32 percent increase in employee confidence from the previous four years.