Logan Health Nurses Ratify New Contract with Immediate 18% Raise
The new three-year contract adds five additional wage steps and boosts night-shift pay
By Zoë Buhrmaster
Unionized nurses at Logan Health in Kalispell announced a new approved contract with the hospital last week, marking their biggest to date, said Donna Nelson, a registered nurse and union delegate.
Nurses ratified their first contract with SEIU Healthcare 1199NW representing them in 2021, a process that took two years and included a three-day strike amid tense bargaining negotiations. The following contract, ratified in 2023, took about eight months. This one took about four.
“I saw that as progress,” Nelson said. She’s worked at Logan Health for nearly 15 years and took part in all three bargaining processes. “I also see it as acceptance of the union … we’re not going away.”
The new three-year contract gives all nurses an 18% raise upon ratification, rising to 24.5% over the life of the contract, along with improved vacation scheduling. It also raises pay for various differentials, including when nurses are precepting, working as a charge nurse, or hold additional certifications.
The contract adds five new steps to the wage scale, which is based on years of experience. Nelson, who will hit 35 years as a nurse in January, will move from Logan Health’s previous cap of step 25 to step 30, a change that affects more than 100 nurses, or roughly a sixth of the union’s 650 members. Combined with the 18% raise, Nelson said the change amounts to about a $16 increase in her hourly pay, which is “life changing” for many.
“You know how expensive to live in the valley, and those kinds of wages are what we need to keep local nurses here, because it’s too easy to pick up and travel and go make more money,” Nelson said. “We need stable community members taking care of our community.”
For other nurses, like registered nurse and union delegate Tara LaHaise, the higher differential pay is an incentive to take on additional duties and night shifts.
“I also will be starting to work night shift now that the differential has increased,” LaHaise said. “It might attract nurses like me who have been a nurse for 16 years to stay on night shift to maybe a little bit longer to get that extra pay raise and then in turn creating more quality care on the night shift, catching maybe things we might have missed overnight.”
This was also the first contract nurses negotiated on their own, without outside representation — a milestone in the union’s push to become fully member-led. Since their second contract, the nurses have shifted to an “all in to win” model, in which members run the union themselves, from new-employee orientations to bargaining-table negotiations.
Nelson described a mutual respect in the bargaining room with Logan Health negotiators, which she credited in part to turnover in Logan Health management in recent years.
“There were tenuous moments in this bargain as with any bargain,” she said. “But I feel like we had a little more respect and they listened to what we had to say.”
Logan Health’s Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Amy Vanterpool called the new contract a “significant step forward” in the hospital’s effort to keep competitive wages and benefits for all registered nurses, “regardless of the union contract.” With the wage increase, the starting rate for registered nurses at the hospital now sits at $41.78, “among the highest in the state,” Vanterpool noted.
“This agreement reflects a shared commitment to supporting our nursing workforce and ensuring continued high-quality care for the patients and communities we serve. We appreciate the dedication, professionalism, and collaborative spirit demonstrated by all parties throughout the bargaining process,” she said in a prepared statement. “We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the process and look forward to moving ahead together in service of our patients, employees and communities.”