After months of demonstrations amidst negotiations with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, unionized nurses and health care workers under the Ohio State University Nurses Organization have a new contract.
The contract, announced by the Ohio Nurses Association on July 3, marks “a major milestone in their ongoing fight for patient safety, workplace protections, and accountability from hospital leadership,” according to a press release.
“This contract is a hard-earned step forward,” Tony Myers, president of the Ohio State University Nurses Organization, said in a news release.
“But it’s not the end — it’s the beginning of a new phase. Nurses stood together not just for ourselves, but for our patients. We will not tolerate million-dollar executives ignoring blatant safety issues that put patients and staff at risk.”
The union represents more than 4,000 workers.
The new contract includes stronger protections and resources for nurses, something the union had been calling attention to throughout negotiations.
Workplace violence has been steadily increasing in hospitals and other health care centers nationally, and Wexner Medical Center staff have previously said their hospital is no exception. Hospital workers previously told The Dispatch that violence against nurses has been a pervasive problem brought before Wexner Medical Center leadership over time but rarely met with solutions.
In January, the nurses union filed a complaint with the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, detailing a December 2024 incident in which an emergency department patient became agitated and then violent, and made verbal death threats to nurses and others. An hour later, when security showed up, a loaded gun was found on the patient.
The nurses asked Ohio State for the following in contract negotiations:
Union representatives did not immediately respond to The Dispatch’s request for comment as to what exactly will be included in the new contract.
Union leaders stressed in a press release that “a contract is only as powerful as its enforcement — and that frontline nurses must remain organized and ready to act when patient safety or nurse rights are threatened.”
“You can’t separate nurse safety from patient safety — they go hand in hand,” Rick Lucas, president of the Ohio Nurses Association and staff nurse at the Wexner Medical Center, said in a statement.
“OSU nurses put everything on the line to make that clear. This contract reflects their strength and vision, but we all know the work is far from done. Together, we’ll hold management accountable and keep building power to protect patients and the professionals who care for them.”
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Wexner Medical Center nurses union finalizes new contract after months of protest
Reporting by Sheridan Hendrix, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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