Health care workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore will earn more money next year, thanks to a new three-year contract.
The deal includes a freeze in health care insurance premiums for the first year and a cap on premium increases in the second and third year of the contract, said Armeta Dixon, vice president of the Baltimore Area Health System and Hospitals division of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East labor union. She could not say how much employees pay for health care insurance.
Wages for employees currently on the job at Hopkins will increase between 10 percent to 15 percent during the first year of the contract, and new employees will earn a minimum of $10 per hour, Dixon said. The incoming hourly rate under the previous contract was $9.14.
“This is a good contract and these negotiations were a step in the right direction for health care workers in Baltimore City,” Dixon said. “I think it is historic that management acknowledge the problem with wages of health care workers, and we have taken steps to address that.”
The contract also means that the 7,100 members of the union, which include 1,700 members at Johns Hopkins Hospital, can expect to see an increase in wages once contract negotiations take place at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Maryland General Hospital and Sinai Hospital.
“Basically, Hopkins has set the mark,” Dixon said. “We won?t be taking contracts under Johns Hopkins? settlement. Nobody can come in less than this.”
Union Executive Vice President John Reid said he, too, is hopeful the Hopkins contract will lead to better wages for health care workers throughout the area.
“We?re optimistic that this agreement ? reached in a setting of absolute cooperation with the management of Johns Hopkins Hospital ? will set a new bar in negotiations not only for us as we discuss contracts with other institutions in Maryland, but for unions and management across America,” Reid said. “This contract proves that the industry and the union can get a lot more done working cooperatively rather than against one another.”
