UMass Memorial nurses to head back to work after six-hour strike
A six-hour strike at the university campus of UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. ended just before noon on Thursday Oct. 26, when the hospital and the Massachusetts Nurses Association finally came to agreement on a work contract after more than 10 months of contentious negotiations.
That morning, the 850 nurses at UMass Memorial Health Care’s University campus hit the picket lines at 6 a.m., despite earlier news that they’d reached a verbal agreement with management three hours earlier on specifics of a work contract.
The change in direction – after the earlier news of an accord – was so abrupt that a television news reporter commented that he’d had to change the content of his live standup report at 6 a.m. as nurses filed out of the university campus and established their picket line.
The talks had broken down when the verbal agreement was put in writing, according to both a hospital spokeswoman and nurses on the picket line. UMass Memorial spokesman Mark Shelton says the agreement, reached with the help of a federal mediator, now needs ratification by the membership of the MNA.
The university campus had brought in 350 replacement nurses from San Francisco-based Healthcare Contingency Staffing Services Inc., a nurse staffing company that provides temporary staff for hospitals during work interruptions and emergencies.
The points of contention that triggered the Oct. 26 walkout were resolved that morning. They are: Timing of salary increases; and the provision of both a defined benefit and a defined contribution pension plan for all new nurses who are members of the MNA bargaining unit, effective Jan. 1, 2007.
Christina P. O’Neill can be reached at coneill@wbjournal.com
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments