Workers ratify 3-year deal with Women & Infants

PROVIDENCE – Workers at Women & Infants Hospital have voted to approve a three-year contract, their union announced today.
Hundreds of nurses and dietary, clerical, technical, housekeeping, maintenance and other workers from the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, turned out yesterday to vote on the agreement, which was ratified by final tally of 863 to 6.
The agreement – arrived at earlier this week by hospital management and the union negotiating committee – calls for raises on Oct. 1 of each year of 4 percent in 2008, 5 percent in 2009 and 4 percent in 2010, in addition to the existing “anniversary” raises some workers receive for seniority. “It really has quite a range,” Wendy LaPrade, a nurse and union organizer, said when asked about those anniversary pay increases, which she range from 2 percent to 4 percent, for those workers who are eligible. But, she added: “We have many workers who aren’t on those step increases, so the 4 and 5 percent raises in the contract are the only raises they’ll be getting.”
The contract also increases the shift differential for evening and night workers to $1.75 per hour and $2.75 per hour, respectively. To discourage the “floating” of nursing staff between different units, it increases the differential paid to nurses required to work in unfamiliar areas by up to $4.50 per hour. Other provisions include the continuance of fully-paid health insurance; a new option allowing workers to receive pay for up to 40 hours per year of unused sick time; and a new no-layoff provision.
“In the face of the proposed hospital merger [of Lifespan and Care New England] and the concerns that it raises for all of us, it’s good to know that our jobs and the high quality care that we provide for our patients are secure,” Sukie Ream, a labor-room nurse, said in a statement today. “All in all, we are very happy with this agreement,” added Cheryl Ross, a recovery room nurse and a member of the union negotiating committee. “This turnout, and the results of the vote itself, really shows the unity and determination of our members.”
The agreement “is the result of a very good cooperative process,” with union and hospital officials working very closely together, Dan Michaud, the hospital’s vice president for human resources, told Providence Business News in a telephone interview this afternoon.
“I think the contract is a good contract for the hospital as well as for our employees,” Michaud added, explaining that “it clarifies where we’ll be for the next three years … from a competitive perspective with other hospitals.”

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island – a member of the Care New England health care network and the Brown University Medical School’s primary teaching affiliate for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics – is the 10th largest obstetrical service in the country, with more than 9,000 deliveries per year. To learn more, visit www.womenandinfants.org.
The New England Health Care Employees Union, now District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, was founded in 1932 in New York City. To learn more, visit www.nehceu.org.

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