The Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) is a union that comprises approximately five thousand nurses from Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The union recently negotiated several three-year contracts with the nurses’ employers. The negotiation happened after the nurses went on a one-week strike. For a long time, nurses at the two hospitals had complained of poor pay, understaffing, and mental health strain (Mogensen, 2022). They were overwhelmed by the long working hours resulting from having inadequate staff members. This had negatively impacted their mental and physical wellbeing, especially at the height of the pandemic. Despite making their grievances known to their employers, the two parties had failed to reach an agreement.
Majority of the union members voted in favor of a strike since no other approach had made a difference. Consequently, the union issued a strike notice on April 13. The employers responded by threatening to withhold medical coverage for nurses who would join the strike (Gooch, 2022). However, the nurses did not concede, and the strike began on April 25. After a week-long strike, the hospitals agreed to negotiate with the union. The negotiated contracts increased nurses’ access to mental health services. Additionally, pay was revised to include a 7% wage increase in 2022, 5% in 2023, and 5% in 2024 (Mogensen, 2022). The contracts also resolved that staffing would take into consideration patient acuity, which refers to the amount of nursing care a particular patient requires. Among other benefits, the contracts increased benefits for retirees and paid vacation for employed nurses. The union was satisfied with the results of the negotiation, and the nurses were set to return to work on May 3 (Kim, 2022). CRONA was successful in negotiating benefits for its members because the nurses were willing to strike for their right to be heard.
References
Gooch, K. (2022). Stanford health care to nurses: No pay for those who strike. Becker’s Hospital Review.
Kim, B. (2022). Stanford nurses ratify contract with hospitals, set to resume work on Tuesday. The Stanford Daily.
Mogensen, J. F. (2022). After a week on strike, Stanford nurses just approved a new contract. Mother Jones.