The University of Miami Hospital and SEIU announced a labor agreement Thursday that a union leader called “groundbreaking.”

The contract was described in a UM press release as investing “in quality patient care and a brighter future for workers at UMH,” including an education fund for employees, staffing increases, incentive-based wage increases and “a strong labor-management partnership to help improve patient care.”

“This is the most groundbreaking contract I’ve ever been involved with,” Monica Russo, a union leader for two decades who is executive vice president of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare workers East, said in an interview with The Herald.

The contract was ratified by the union more than a month ago. UM said Thursday that joint projects have already “resulted in reduced wait times in the emergency room, improvements in wound care and dramatically reduced response time to patient call lights – all of which increase patient satisfaction.”

“This contract is a game changer,” UMH Chief Executive Dan Snyder said in a prepared statement. “It creates a structure that not only enhances the hospital services that benefit patients, it establishes a framework for the future by working with our employees.”