After 13 hours of negotiations that ended after 1 a.m. on Friday morning the nurses of Lawrence General Hospital reached a tentative agreement with management for a new three-year contract that nurses believe will allow the hospital to recruit and retain the staff needed to ensure optimum patient care.
The pact, which covers the nearly 500 RNs at LGH from Oct. 2, 2018 – Oct. 2, 2021, includes a number of improvements to nurse staffing levels including increased staffing in the hospital's emergency department, creation of a 24/7 rapid response nurse position to support nurses on inpatient units, and a charge nurse with a limited assignment on the night shift. Nurses won a four percent, across the board pay raise for all nurses (1 percent retroactive to Oct 2, 2018, 1 percent on Oct. 2, 2019, .5 percent on April 2, 2020 and 1.5 percent on Oct. 2, 2020), as well as a new 3.5 step for those at the top of the scale and a $10 per hour night shift differential, the highest in the state. The agreement also includes improvement to nurses' retirement benefit, provisions for self-scheduling and protection the nurses sought for their paid time off benefit.
"After several months of tireless work from the negotiating committee and endless support from our membership, we have settled on a contract that affords us increased safety," said Travis Libman, an emergency department nurse and chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "Patients will ultimately be the most satisfied by this contract as it now allows them to have increased access to more appropriate staffing. With the contract now in place, the nurses of Lawrence General can continue to provide the best care possible to the patients in the Merrimack Valley and beyond."
The settlement follows a successful picket by nurses on April 11, a march on the boss by more than 70 nurses to deliver a petition for safe care signed by more than 80 percent of the nurses and strong support the nurses garnered from local public officials, including the state legislative delegation, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, as well as the Lawrence City Council, headed by Council President Kendrys Vasquez.
"We are grateful for the unity and strength of our members and for all the support we have received from this community. Collectively we have stated loud and clear that we are willing to do our part to ensure the best care for our patients and the City of Lawrence," said Laurie Spheekas, RN, a nurse on the hospital's telemetry unit and vice chair of the nurses local bargaining unit.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 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.
