Includes improvements in staffing and
significant wage increases that finally make Tobey competitive with
all surrounding hospitals
WAREHAM,
Mass., June 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- After almost
nine months at the bargaining table, the registered nurses at Tobey
Hospital in Wareham, who are
unionized with the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), recently
ratified a new three-year contract. The contract includes
significant wage increases that – for the first time in a very long
time – make the wages of Tobey RNs competitive with RN wages at all
other South Coast hospitals. In addition, the nurses won language
that places them on a new wage scale that fairly credits them, step
for step, according to their years of RN licensure.
"During years two and three of the new contract, we will see
across-the-board wage increases totaling almost five percent," said
Chris Sousa, RN, and chairperson of
the MNA bargaining unit at Tobey. "But the immediate movement onto
a new wage scale is the breakthrough piece of this contract."
Previously, Tobey nurses were inconsistently and inappropriately
placed on a wage scale consisting of subpar steps. "This piece of
the contract gives our current nurses the salaries they have long
deserved while also helping us to recruit and retain new nurses,"
added Sousa. "It's the foundation of recovery from an RN staffing
shortage that has long plagued the hospital."
In year one of the contract, nurses are receiving a minimum of a
16% increase, with some receiving higher wages due to being placed
on the new wage scale according to their year of RN licensure.
Additional Contract Improvements
The Tobey RNs also won significant staffing and workplace safety
improvements, including:
- Charge RNs with reduced or no assignments
- New Stat Nurse positions
- New language limiting the assignment of non-nursing duties
to RNs
- Important improvements to health and safety language, including
language about pandemic preparedness and workplace violence
The Map to Winning a Landmark Contract
"This contract is the result of the tremendous hard work and
solidarity of our small — but entirely committed — MNA bargaining
unit," added Sousa. During their nine months of negotiations,
countless Tobey nurses:
- Attended every bargaining session
- Ran a successful button campaign
- Collected signatures on their "petition for a fair contract"
and delivered those signatures to Southcoast Health's
New Bedford offices
- Had community supporters plant lawn signs throughout the
town
- Held a successful informational picket
- Brought their struggles to elected leaders at the local, state,
and federal level
- Testified at a special hearing on healthcare
alongside Southcoast's CEO
"We succeeded in winning the contract Tobey nurses deserve,"
said Sousa. "And now we are ready to see this success play out in
the form of nurses coming to, and staying at, Tobey Hospital for
the long term."
The nurses' new three-year contract runs through September 30, 2026.
Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the
largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members
advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of
nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of
nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view
of nursing, and lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on
healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.
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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association