NORTH PROVIDENCE – Around 200 professional, technical and maintenance employees of Fatima Hospital represented by the United Nurses and Allied Professionals have ratified a 15-month contract with CharterCARE Health Partners.
The new bargaining agreements provide a cumulative 6% wage increase throughout the life of the contract and include provisions relating to rules, scheduling, medical insurance among other items, according to a news release.
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“CharterCARE is delighted to have reached an initial contract agreement with United Nurses and Allied Professionals for certain employees of Fatima Hospital. These are fair and equitable contracts for the employees and hospital,” said Jeffrey Liebman, CEO of CharterCARE. “Labor stability and payroll certainty are essential as we await approval of the Centurion Foundation’s application to acquire us. We look forward to a continued labor partnership with UNAP and our union employees.”
Lynn Blais, president of UNAP, noted there is no agreement between the Centurion Foundation – which has proposed to purchase Fatima Hospital and other CharterCARE assets – and health care professionals who work at CharterCARE facilities.
“Centurion has made no commitment to providing job security for nurses and health professionals. They’ve made no commitment to keeping these important community hospitals open. And their business model will saddle these community hospitals with at least $133 million in debt,” Blais said in a statement to PBN. “In short, they’ve made no commitment to the Rhode Islanders who depend on these health care facilities, and that’s why we will continue to vehemently oppose their application to buy these facilities.”
Otis Brown, a spokesperson for Centurion and CharterCARE, said the agreement with Fatima Hospital employees is welcome news and that Centurion has agreed to assume all existing contracts, the newly adopted agreements and a health and benefits package equal or better to what’s currently offered.
“We look forward to approval of our application to acquire CharterCARE Health Partners and to a mutually beneficial and respectful labor partnership with UNAP,” Brown said in a statement to PBN.
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
