After over a year of negotiations, registered nurses at Longmont United Hospital won new protections for both nurses and patients through their first union contract, according to a national union.

On Wednesday, registered nurses at CommonSpirit Longmont United Hospital ratified a three-year contract focused on nurse retention and patient safety at LUH, according to a National Nurses United news release Thursday.

The contract ensures nurse staffing improvements, including health and safety provisions such as high-level personal protective equipment for nurses; competitive wages with the Denver metro area; and protections that will allow nurses to take uninterrupted meal and rest breaks.

This ratification marks the first union contract for nurses at Longmont United Hospital and it’s one of the first acute care private-sector contracts for registered nurses in Colorado, according to the National Nurses United union.

“We are so proud and excited to ratify our first contract,” Kris Kloster, a registered nurse in the post-anesthesia care unit at LUH, wrote in an email on Thursday. “We fought for a long time to get to this point. This contract ratification is very significant for nurses in Colorado, which is a right-to-work state.

“It shows the power of nurses and that it is possible to unionize, which is different from the message employers have been sending to nurses all along,” Kloster continued. “It means we can have a voice in patient care and our working conditions.”

The contract allows for the formation of a professional practice committee, an elected group of nurses who will meet regularly with management to discuss patient care concerns. The nurses also secured floating protections, which prohibit nurses from being “floated” to work in units outside of their expertise.

Kloster wrote that LUH’s ability to “recruit and retain great nurses” will improve as a result of the contract.

“Our patients, nurses, and our community deserve better than the conditions that led us to organize,” Kloster wrote. “This contract means that we can advocate for our patients and ourselves to improve patient care. That means we will have safer staffing so we can give our patients the care they deserve. Longmont is a much better place for patients with this contract.”

The National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, will represent over 250 direct-care nurses at LUH. All of the registered LUH nurses voted in favor of the union contract, according to the news release.

The contract took effect Thursday and lasts through April 10, 2028.

“Longmont United Hospital is pleased to have reached a collective bargaining agreement with National Nurses United,” a CommonSpirit Health representative wrote in a statement to the Times-Call and Daily Camera on Thursday. “We believe the agreement reflects the values we all share: respect, fairness, and the highest standards for patient care.”

LUH nurses won union representation in 2022. Starting last year, LUH nurses bargained with CommonSpirit Health for several items aimed at improving their working conditions, including increased wages, incentives for nurses to pick up extra shifts, and expanded health and retirement benefits.

LUH nurses also won a dispute two years ago regarding withheld raises and benefits for unionized nurses. A National Labor Relations Board judge ruled that Centura Health, which ran LUH at the time, violated federal labor laws, and ordered Centura to compensate the nurses.

The hospital is at 1950 Mountain View Ave. in Longmont.