PROVIDENCE – Butler Hospital’s 300 unionized workers, represented by the New England Healthcare Employees Union / SEIU, District 1199, today ratified a three-year agreement with the hospital.
The tentative agreement had been announced yesterday by NEHCEU and the hospital, averting a walkout slated to begin today. (READ MORE)
The contract was negotiated with the help of a labor mediator; it replaces one that expired March 31. Details – previously withheld pending the pact’s ratification – were made available today for the first time.
• Staff covered by the agreement will receive wage increases of 4 percent in the contract’s first year, 4.25 percent in the second year and 4 percent in the final year.
• Workers will continue to receive fully-paid Blue Chip HMO coverage, under the hospital-designated plan. Participating employees must agree to complete an annual physical or health risk assessment and to participate in at least two predetermined health or wellness initiatives each year.
• The hospital will not require overtime work even for mental-health workers, who are excluded from the state’s new law prohibiting mandatory overtime.
• The hospital will limit the used of contracted staff, and will provide a mechanism by which Butler staff can fill open shifts.
“We believe that the new contract is a fair and equitable agreement for the staff and enables the hospital to preserve its economic stability while continuing to provide the highest standard of patient care,” Dr. Patricia Ryan Recupero, president and CEO, said in a statement this evening.
Butler Hospital is Rhode Island’s only private, nonprofit psychiatric and substance-abuse hospital for patients of all ages. A research and teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler is a founding member of the nonprofit Care New England Health System. To learn more, visit www.carenewengland.org or www.butler.org.
