Labor Department Bargaining Unit Updates

Following is a summary of the status of collective bargaining at MNA units.

UMass Medical Center
The MNA members at UMass Medical Center, University Campus continue to be engaged in brutal negotiations with management. The hospital still has more than 50 concessionary proposals on the table. Dates have been set to continue talks into August.

Cooley Dickinson Hospital
MNA members at Cooley Dickinson Hospital are in contract negotiations. Progress is being made with each session and dates are set through May.

Berkshire Medical Center
Berkshire Medical Center members are getting ready to participate in the local “Relay for Life” event on June 16 and 17. The nurses’ committee will be hosting the August 14 Region 1 Council Meeting.

Leicester School Nurses
The Leicester school nurses recently settled a new two-year contract.
Wachusett Regional School Nurses
The Wachusett Regional District school nurses recently settled a new two-year contract.

Mercy Medical Center
After great media coverage, multiple issues of the locals’ newsletter Top Dog News, and a successful picket that brought together over 20 unions and community groups, the negotiating committee ratified an agreement with management.

VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickinson
The nurses will be having their annual meeting with elections in May. Monthly membership meetings of the nurses have been well attended, and dinner/educational programs have been offered. The fight for fair working conditions for the hospice nurses continues and blue and white bumper stickers that read “I support the Hospice Nurses of the VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickinson Inc.” are spotted regularly in the area.

	MNA members are joined by family and friends at informational pickets at Brockton Visting Nurse Association (top two) and Mercy Medical Center (bottom).

West Springfield School Nurses
The first mediation session was held on April 24, and another was held May 1. The nurses continue to gather statewide support and media coverage of their fight for professional wage parity. The nurses are outside local shopping establishments on weekends gathering signatures and distributing buttons in support of their cause.

Cambridge Hospital
On May 2 registered nurses at Cambridge Hospital voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new two-year contract. With more than two-thirds of the bargaining unit participating, 201 voted yes and only two voted no.

The bargaining team was pleased with the vote and the support that it received from the members. The contract modestly changed the health insurance plan design, while maintaining the 85 percent/15 percent employer/employee premium split. In fact, if members choose to receive their health care from the providers at the Cambridge Health Alliance, their employer/employee premium split will improve to 90 percent/10 percent.

The contract also provided a minimum 11.5 percent increase in wages over the two years, retroactive to July 2005. Differentials were improved, charge pay and on-call pay increased and a new preceptor differential was introduced.

Team members included: Judy Weiner, ER; Susan Wright Thomas, maternity; Jan Hales, psych & clinical specialist; Jean Mazzola, med/surg; Faydene Small-Jones, step down unit; Donna Mondeau, ICU; Betty Kaloustian, PACU; Kathy Hernon, schools and public health; Lori Ososky, nurse midwife; Suzanne Smith, addictions treatment unit; Elaine Carruso, OR.

Said Donna Kelly Williams, chapter chair and pediatric nurse, “Through constant two-way communication, the members knew what the team was facing and the team knew the priorities of the members.“

I would like to thank the team personally for their efforts and their contributions.”