Union contracts often have provisions for overtime above what the law requires and additional premium pay for being assigned extra responsibilities and job duties. Unfortunately, employers don’t always pay what was agreed to in the Union contract, so it’s up to rank-and-file union workers and stewards to enforce the contract and hold the employer accountable.

Jim O’Brien works at the Pacific Campus for Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. Recently Jim and other nurses have been assigned up to 5 nursing students to train (in nursing it is known as “clincal precepting” and nurse trainers are known as “preceptors”) while still carrying full patient loads. Jim and his fellow nurses had concerns about caring for patients while training 5 nursing students at the same time, and while reviewing the RN contract for Providence Everett he discovered that there was a premium clinical precepting that the Employer was not paying.

Jim and his union rep contacted his manager to request the premium for all the nurses in Jim’s unit. Management quickly agreed to pay the premium going forward and is conducting an audit with the Union to make all the nurses whole for the missed pay.

Way to go Jim! When everyone makes sure to enforce our union contract, we all benefit.