More than 1,600 hospital members at Boston Medical Center ratified a strong four-year contract on December 13 which included wage increases of up to 39 percent based on market adjustments, experience and annual raises.

Helena Hawko, an 1199 Surgical Technician at the hospital, said: “I've worked at BMC for 17 years, and my coworkers and I have had to watch techs at other hospitals be paid at a rate that BMC refused to match. In this contract, we pushed management to pay us closer to what our skills are worth,”

In addition to higher wages, members maintained access to free and low-cost educational opportunities, created a public health emergency committee and a pathway to paid trainingmentorship for existing staff.

The bargaining unit includes social work, patient access, laboratory, ambulatory care and radiology departments.