Dignity Health nurses, including at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, have ratified a new contract. It includes a wage increase of 13 and a half percent over four years. It covers over 14-thousand who are members of the California Nurses Association, including around 260 at the hospital. One of those nurses here is Elissa Preston…

click to listen to Elissa Preston

Preston says the contract also includes new provisions that will strengthen prevention measures Dignity must take against infectious diseases, such as the coronavirus. She says they’ve gained representation on the company’s pandemic task force and will get the highest level of personal protective equipment…

click to listen to Elissa Preston

The contract also allows more input from nurses on ensuring workplace violence prevention. That’s partly in reference to unruly patients and members of the public not wanting to follow pandemic protocols and restrictions.