New Contract Ends Record 301-Day Nursing Strike Over Staffing Issues
After 9 months of negotiating with nurses at St. Vincent Hospital, a new contract will include assault pay, staffing improvements, increased wage and benefits, and improved workplace safety.
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By - According to the Massachusetts Nursing Association (MNA), the longest nurses strike in Massachusetts history over staffing concerns came to a long-awaited end when St. Vincent Hospital nurses ratified a new contract.
The St. Vincent nurses overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratification, with a tally of 487 to 9. The agreement with Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare assures the 700 striking nurses can return to their original position and deliver staffing improvements as requested to provide patient care amid Omicron variant surges.
"With this agreement we can go back into that building with great pride not just in what we got in writing in the agreement, but for what we have built together as nurses who know they did everything they could for their patients and their community," Dominique Muldoon, RN, a nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the bargaining unit, said in a public announcement.
The new contract was reached following two weeks of discussions with federal mediators and ultimately settled at an in-person session mediated by US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.
If ratified, the new contract includes two years of retroactive pay (2020 and 2021). Additionally, the contract includes improvements in staffing, such as a limit of four-patient assignments on the hospital’s cardiac post-surgical unit. The contract also states that no more than five patients can be assigned to nursing on the behavioral health unit.
Staffing improvements were made in most department units. However, nurses stated improvements are still needed in the maternity unit and emergency department.
"We will now work to make progress in all areas inside the building and hope Tenet leadership commits to doing the same," said Marie Ritacco, RN, a nurse negotiating committee member and vice president of the MNA.
Another fundamental improvement of the agreement includes increased workplace safety, which will provide nurses with “assault pay” and additional enforceable staffing by a police detail.
Lastly, nurses will receive better wages and health insurance benefits. The new contract gives nurses a two percent wage increase each year.
The nurse-achieved efforts took more than nine months of picketing, community rallies and marches, and support from federal, state, and municipal public officials who rallied to the nurses' cause, MNA stated.
Additionally, the strike gained the support of faith-based, social justice, and labor organizations and their members nationally.
“I stand here tonight humbled beyond words by our journey and we are overjoyed to report that our members have cast an overwhelming yes vote to ratify an agreement that officially ends the historic St. Vincent Nurses Strike,” Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a 35-year nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit of the MNA, said in the press release.
“For nearly 10 months our nurses have walked the line for safer patient care, for the honor of our profession and for the right of all workers who make the difficult decision to engage in a lawful strike to return to their original positions. As we stand here tonight, we can proudly say we have achieved our goals.”
According to the agreement, Saint Vincent hospital will be given 30 days after the ratification to recall the nurses back to the hospital.
