State and nurses’ union agree to deal for 12% hazard pay

Posted on June 18, 2020
Mennonite College of Nursing
The hazard pay is for hours worked on coronavirus patients between April 16 and June 30. (Photo courtesy Illinois State University)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – There’s a deal between the state and the nurses’ union for twelve percent hazard pay.

This is for the nurses in five Illinois departments on the front lines of coronavirus. Illinois Nurses Association executive director Alice Johnson says the profession these days is feast or famine.

“There is a shortage of nurses,” says Johnson, “but a lot of nurses have had to face a lot of the same financial stresses and risks that many other working people are facing out there right now. During the pandemic, many elective surgeries were cancelled and not continued. Then you have the other end of the spectrum,” including extra helpings of hours, stress, and risk.

Johnson says about sixty health care workers in the state have died from COVID-19.

The hazard pay is for hours worked on coronavirus patients between April 16 and June 30.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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