Three health care centers in Orleans County have avoided potential pickets with the ratifying of a new contract. 

More than 200 workers represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East voted overwhelmingly in favor of the three-year deal. It covers union workers at Medina Memorial Hospital, Lake Plains Batavia Dialysis Clinic and the Albion Healthcare Center. 

The new contract includes a $17 per hour minimum starting rate for new hires and a general wage increase for health care workers from 3% - 20% in the first year, an additional 3% in the second year and 5% in the third year. Some positions will also see an increase in the base rate of pay to help retain and recruit more workers into those positions. 

Negotiations also won increases in shift and weekend differentials, one additional day out of town bereavement, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth as paid holidays starting in 2025. Union members will also maintain their access to the 1199SEIU Training & Upgrading Benefit Fund. 

“We fought hard for this contract and it’s great,” said Kagney Bieniek, radiology technologist. “With the wages we won during negotiations, this is the best contract we’ve seen in years. I hope that it will help us to retain more workers and to get new hires. I love having a hospital like this to serve our community and it’s great that we were able to settle."

The union said wages were the main sticking point in negotiations. The new contract runs through December 31, 2026.