UW Medicine nurses latest to receive big raises in new labor contract

More than 2,000 UW Medicine nurses will soon receive massive raises after wrapping up contract negotiations with hospital administration last month and approving a new labor agreement this week.

Nurses at UW Medicine’s Montlake and Northwest campuses finished voting on the new contract Wednesday night — nearly nine months before their current one expires. While the new contract will be in effect from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025, the now-approved raises will be applied at the beginning of the 2023 and retroactively to Aug. 1, 2022, according to the Washington State Nurses Association, which represents a portion of the nurses at Montlake and Northwest campuses.

UW Medicine’s agreement is the latest in a recent wave of Seattle-area hospital contract negotiations — including at Providence Swedish and Seattle Children’s — and puts the hospital system “on par” with others nearby, WSNA nurse representative Ed Zercher said in a statement.