COMP NEWS – The University of Michigan nurses union has ratified a new contract with UM Health System and Michigan Medicine that will guarantee a nine-figure compensation package for workers over the next four years.

The University of Michigan nurses union has ratified its contract with the UM Health System and Michigan Medicine, guaranteeing a $273-million compensation package during the next four years.

The UM Professional Nurses Council approved the contract late Saturday, Oct. 1, after more than seven months of negotiations, which led to a tentative agreement in late September. The union will work with the health system immediately to implement the new benefits and policy changes, officials said.

The multi-million employment agreement includes a 22.5% raise in the four years of the contract, a $5,000 bonus for each nurse, elimination on mandatory overtime and expanded staffing guidelines, officials said.

The nurses union’s compensation package includes several other provisions, such as ending mandatory overtime in non-emergency cases and new salary step models for nurse practitioners.

UM Health President Dr. David Miller thanked the negotiating team for its work getting the contract to the finish line the last few months, signaling that it showed “our shared interest in moving UM Health forward together,” he said.

The compensation package includes the following provisions:

• Nurse practitioners are now in a salary step model that allows for incremental pay raises.
• All other nurses will receive a 7.5% pay increase in year one, while other bargaining unit members will receive a 6% increase in year two, 5% in year three and 4% in year four.
• The $5,000 lump sum bonus will be delivered in 2022 to all members of UMPNC, while all current nurses still employed at Michigan Medicine by March 31, 2026 will see a $2,000 retention bonus.

Mandatory overtime will end except for defined emergency situations.

The ratified contract also includes guidelines for maintaining adequate staffing.

Both parties agreed on staffing guidelines that allow for hiring to “continue the industry leading staffing levels that we have historically maintained,” officials said, while also creating a process for managing low staffing levels should the situation arise.

More than 1,000 nurses were hired at Michigan Medicine from July 2021 to May 2022, and the job vacancy rate of 5% in the UM health system outpaces the national average of 17%.

To read about the University of Michigan nurses union’s $273M compensation deal, click here.

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