Enloe, union reach tentative agreement

After an organizing effort and negotiations that together lasted more than four years, the 600 service workers at Enloe Medical Center finally have a tentative contract agreement.

According to a press release sent out by United Healthcare Workers-West, the union representing the workers, the agreement includes wage increases ranging from 22 to 52 percent over four years, “as well as joint labor-management committees formed to address staffing and patient-care issues, with third-party mediation.” The workers will also be eligible for fully employer-paid health insurance.

Workers will vote on the contract Tuesday (Dec. 9).

The union, whose parent is the vast Service Employees International Union, represents clerks, couriers, drivers, nursing assistants, technicians, lab assistants, schedulers, unit secretaries and many others. Enloe nurses are represented by the California Nurses Association.

“This is a hard-fought victory, but it was worth it because of how much the new contract will help patients and the community of Chico,” Barbara Garcia, a certified nursing assistant, said in the press release.

Deborah Yancer, the hospital’s CEO, said she and her management team also were glad to reach agreement. “We are pleased to move forward in a new relationship with our employees and their union,” she stated in a press release from Enloe. “This represents an important milestone in the life of our organization.”