Cabell Huntington Hospital Nurses Vote Overwhelmingly to Ratify Union Contract

With nearly 1,000 nurses and nurse practitioners represented in the bargaining unit and to ensure COVID-19 protocols, the workers voted in significant numbers in a two-day contract vote held at the Double Tree Hotel in Huntington, West Virginia. The vote started on Thursday, January 14 and concluded in the late evening on Friday, January 15.

For over 40 years, registered nurses have worked side-by-side with SEIU members in every area of Cabell Huntington Hospital. Now, with a new contract agreement for nearly 1,000 registered nurses, the workers will have a stronger voice together.

“Nurses with Cabell Huntington Hospital stood united at the bargaining table and they were diligent in negotiating the details of this agreement,” said Joyce Gibson, Secretary-Treasurer with SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH, in a press release. “Locally, these nurses are not just health care workers but family members, friends, and neighbors. That’s why this agreement is meaningful not just for these nurses but for the entire area."

“The new agreement ensures that these vital nurses will have job security and a voice for the patients they serve and it will strengthen quality care, in addition to wages and benefits,” she added.

 “I have been a nurse for 29 years and a union contract gives my family security and peace of mind," Pam Waugh, a medical surgical nurse, said, "I now have job security and do not have to worry my benefits will be taken away.”