Brockton Hospital nurses ratify contract

BROCKTON -- After more than a year without a contract, Brockton Hospital nurses last week ratified a three-year package that provides them with wage increases of 13 to 23 percent, a stronger commitment to increasing weekend and night staffing, and an agreement that nurses' prescription drug benefits should not be limited to the hospital-based pharmacy program.

"We were very pleased the contract was settled," said Kathy Metzger , a registered nurse and president of the local chapter of the Massachusetts Nurses Association . "The wages now make us competitive with the surrounding hospitals."

Hospital president Norman B. Goodman said the agreement "offers our nursing staff significant increases and is reflective of the great value we place on the care they provide to our patients."

Under the contract, the hourly wage for a new nurse, in the final year of the contract, will increase to $25.60, up from $22.50. The top wage step for a veteran nurse will be at $47.96, up from $39.01. That latter boost will result in a yearly income of $100,000, based on a 40-hour workweek, up from $81,000.

The tuition reimbursement provision will afford nurses up to $2,500 per year for additional education that is job-related.

In mid-January, the nurses' union conducted a daylong informational picket outside the hospital, handing out fliers to passersby. Metzger said she believes the event was the catalyst that brought both sides together.

"Between 150 and 175 nurses were out there," Metzger said. "It showed the administration the nurses were working together and standing strong. When we went back to the table, things went much more quickly toward a solution."

Metzger said the nurses were unsuccessful in getting language into the contract that would address what they say is the growing problem of workplace violence against nurses, most often by patients in the emergency room or psychiatric ward. That issue probably would have taken a strike to address, Metzger said, and the union negotiators did not believe such action would be in the best interest of the hospital or the community.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has pending legislation that addresses workplace violence. Metzger said the local also plans to address it through the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Christine Wallgren can be reached at CLWallgren@aol.com.