The contract agreement followed months of bargaining and a focused effort by NWH nurses to convince the hospital to provide the resources nurses and patients need
NEWTON, Mass., Sept. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted overwhelmingly on September 30 to ratify a new contract with the hospital that makes critical investments in nurses and their ability to provide safe, high-quality patient care.
"I am so proud of our nurses and what this agreement will do to help us recruit and retain the nurses we need to provide quality patient care at Newton-Wellesley Hospital," said Julie Gordon, a NWH cardiac care nurse and MNA Bargaining Committee Co-Chair. "With these improvements for nurses and our patients, we look forward to restoring Newton-Wellesley Hospital as a trusted place of healing for our community."
"This hard-won contract will help Newton-Wellesley Hospital nurses provide safe patient care and address staffing shortages that have contributed to nurses leaving our profession," said Adam Castagno, a NWH operating room nurse and MNA Bargaining Committee Co-Chair. "By sticking together through months of negotiations, we convinced the hospital and Mass General Brigham to do the right thing and put more resources into frontline staff and patient care."
Contract Agreement Highlights
- A 5% across-the-board wage increase in year one (retroactive to April 1, 2022) and a 5% across-the-board wage increase in year two.
- A new full 4.5% top step on the wage scale in year one (retroactive to April 1, 2022).
- A brand-new Nurse Practitioner/Nurse Midwife wage scale.
- Increases to the BA, MA, and doctoral degree differentials.
- Increases to the evening and night differentials, OR Resource and Laser Nurse pay, relief charge/relief pod coordinator pay, and on-call pay.
- Increases to the on-call pay categories, creation of a new on-call category for RNs in units requiring 96 or more hours of call in a six-week schedule.
- Adds Juneteenth as a new premium pay holiday
- Summer vacation bonus trial for the duration of the contract with an opportunity to extend if successful.
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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 by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
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