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BALTIMORE (AP) — Members of a union representing 2,000 workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital approved a labor contract Friday after months of contentious negotiations.
Ninety-three percent of the membership voted over two days in favor of ratifying the proposed 4½-year contract, which calls for minimum wage increases for environmental-services, kitchen and maintenance workers, according to a union statement.
Under the agreement, workers with 20 years of experience will earn at least $15 an hour, effective immediately. Workers with 15 years of experience will earn $14.50 an hour by 2015, and all current workers will make at least $13 an hour by 2018. The union, the 1199 affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, says the raises at Baltimore's largest health care employer will set a standard for other workers in the city.
Negotiations began in March, and the union went on strike for three days in April after rejecting the hospital's offer of a $12 minimum wage.
The union threatened a further four-day strike in late June, but both sides heeded Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's request for a weeklong cooling-off period and the parties reached an agreement Tuesday.
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