FILE: The historic Boston Lying-In Hospital building, part of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in July 2009. Photo: jimcintosh/Wikimedia Commons, CC0; cropped.
More than 4,000 union nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement late Wednesday, averting an open-ended strike scheduled to begin November 12, the Massachusetts Nurses Association announced.
The deal with Mass General Brigham still requires a ratification vote by the hospital’s unionized nurses. The bargaining committee will recommend approval. The union issued its announcement at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on November 11; the release did not give a date for that vote.
The proposed agreement addresses temporary staffing, reassignment of nurses between units, health insurance and compensation, according to the union. Its provisions should not be treated as a final contract until members approve it.
Staffing commitments in the proposed agreement
The hospital would post 20 new, 36-hour float-pool nursing positions, the union said. A float pool provides nurses who can cover staffing needs across units rather than relying entirely on temporary workers or reassigning other unit staff.
The union said the hospital committed in contract language that it does not intend to replace permanent Brigham nurses with temporary nurses. It would also track temporary staffing and movement of nurses into and out of units, sharing data with a new joint Staffing and Resources Committee.
Another provision would require the hospital to explain when temporary nurses cover more than 15% of the full-time-equivalent positions in a unit or cost center. Charge nurses and nurses-in-charge would receive a lower-acuity patient assignment or no patient assignment, according to the union’s account.
Insurance and pay terms await a vote
Current nurses working 40 hours would retain premium-free individual health coverage under the compromise described by the union. Newly hired 40-hour nurses would contribute 2.5% of the premium.
The proposed pay terms add a new top wage step 2.5% above the existing top step effective November 15, with another top step 2.5% higher effective September 30, 2027. Nurses below the top step would receive a $1,000 bonus upon ratification, prorated for their full-time-equivalent hours.
Those top-step changes are not an across-the-board 2.5% raise for every nurse. The proposed agreement would run from ratification through September 30, 2028.
The tentative settlement follows months of negotiations, a July 8 one-day strike and four-day lockout, and nurses’ rejection of an earlier hospital offer in October, the union said. The latest agreement prevents the newly scheduled walkout while giving members another contract to consider.
JBizNews Desk | New York
© JBizNews.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution is strictly prohibited.
