SALEM — Nurses at North Shore Medical Center last week reached a tentative agreement with management and Partners HealthCare on a new, two-year contract, with the nurses’ union saying the deal will lead to better working conditions and benefits as well as pay hikes.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that benefits both patients and nurses,” said Kelli O’Brien, a registered nurse who works in the birthplace unit at Salem Hospital, and who serves as the co-chairwoman of the nurse union’s local bargaining unit, in a prepared statement.
For most nurses, the deal would carry a 1.5-percent pay increase over the two years of the contract.
“We are pleased to have reached agreement with our Salem nurses,” said a statement from North Shore Medical Center. “Our negotiations were very productive and collaborative, and we look forward to moving ahead with our important work to care for families in our community.”
The tentative agreement, secured on April 26 between Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United and hospital management and Partners, sets the stage for a vote by the full membership of approximately 600 NSMC nurses on the new two-year contract. A date for ratification has yet to be scheduled.
The new contract would have a start date of Oct. 1, 2015, and expire on Sept. 30, 2017. Nurses have been working under contract extensions since their last contract expired on Sept. 30, 2015. Nurses held an informational picket at Salem Hospital on March 9, according to Joe Markman, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The tentative deal calls for a retroactive 1-percent pay raise for all registered nurses dating to October 2015. The second year of the agreement creates a new 1 percent max step. Nurses below the top step will get a 0.5 percent increase.
The union said nurses fought for improvements to patient care during their 10th negotiating session with the hospital.
North Shore Medical Center includes the Salem Hospital campus, the Union Hospital campus in Lynn, the Mass General for Children at North Shore Medical Center at Salem Hospital, and the Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care in Danvers, among others.
Other highlights of the tentative pact include limits to how many times a nurse can float outside his or her care unit during a shift, and limits on floating for nurses with 25 years or more seniority. The agreement also puts limits on patient assignments for nurses in charge.
The union said the agreement will increase tuition reimbursement for nurses, add sister-in-law and brother-in-law categories to bereavement leave, and improve last-minute nurse cancellation and pay differential language.
Read the entire Salem News Article here
This post first appeared on North Shore Chamber Economic Development, please read the originial post: here
