Chief Nurse Representative and ICU Nurse at National Nurses United (NNU), Dominique Hamilton, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the ratification of a new contract with St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Hospitals in Tucson, Ariz.
Hamilton found her way into nursing after witnessing a family member struggle with their health, and she wanted to find a way to help more people like her family member. Arizona is a so-called “Right to Work” state, and there are a lot of workers in the state with no union experience. In 2018, there was a lot of doubt surrounding the unionization of nurses at Hamilton’s hospital, but thankfully a majority of nurses helped educate and alleviate the doubt. While they successfully unionized, they still had to wait two years for the first contract, which was signed during the pandemic in 2020.
Recently, Hamilton and her fellow nurses at St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s Hospitals faced their first negotiations for a contract renewal with their employer. It required a new level of education to prepare them for the tough bargaining and strategies they’d face. Thankfully, the nurses were well-prepared when negotiations began and had a list of contract demands. The new contract will ensure nurses can safely and effectively care for their patients, Hamilton said.
Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) face a variety of challenges unlike general nurses, and wildly unlike what you’d see on television, Hamilton said. There’s a range of experiences that ICU Nurses face, from the reward of someone getting healthy to the end-of-life care required for patients who will not recover. Before the contract, each ICU nurse was assigned more patients than they could care for at the highest level required for their illnesses. With the new contract, the nurses now have limits on patient loads, and can provide the best care possible and protect their patients, Hamilton said.
To hear more from Hamilton, please press play on the show above.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
