Beverly Hospital nurses agree to three-year contract [The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.]

May 10—BEVERLY — Registered nurses at Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester and Lahey Outpatient Center in Danvers have agreed to a new three-year contract that will increase pay, improve health insurance benefits and ensure better staffing.

The contract includes raises ranging from 7% to 15%, locks in current staffing levels, and obligates the hospitals to recruit and retain nurses, according to an announcement on Tuesday from the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

"We are thrilled to have reached this settlement and we hope it provides us with the resources and support we need to ensure our nurses can provide the first-rate care our patients and families expect and deserve," said Larn Beard, a Registered Nurse in the special care nursery at Beverly Hospital and co-chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The MNA said the two sides reached on agreement on April 20 after seven months of negotiation, and nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify the pact last week. The agreement came after nurses voted on March 23 to authorize a three-day strike if their negotiating committee felt it was necessary. That never happened, but the MNA said the vote resulted in "more fruitful discussions that led to the final agreement."

The agreement was reached with Northeast Hospital Corp., which is owned by the Beth Israel Lahey Health System and is comprised of Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals and Lahey Outpatient Center.

Kim Perryman, chief nursing officer at Beverly and Addison Gilbert Hospitals, said in a statement that the agreement includes market competitive wages, maintains or improves existing benefits, and supports "continued safe, high-quality staffing."

"I am confident that this contract reflects the value our nurses provide as part of our clinical care teams," Perryman said. "We appreciate the thoughtful, respectful discussions involved in achieving this positive result."

The agreement comes amid a nationwide nursing shortage that has been made worse by the pandemic. Northeast Hospital nurses said they were concerned about inadequate staffing conditions that affected their ability to treat patients and led to them being forced to work overtime. Northeast nurses were also among the lowest paid in the region, according to the MNA. The union said more than 320 nurses have left the three facilities over the last three years.

Under the new agreement, all nurses received wage increases retroactive to April 3, ranging from 7% to 15%. They also got an increase in the percentage between the steps on their 19-step wage scale, which advances each year on their hire-date anniversary. Over three years, wages will be 12.5% to 20.5% higher than they would have been under the old scales, according to the MNA.

Nurse midwives, whom the MNA said were being paid "significantly below the market," will see increases as high as 27% in the first year of the contract.

In terms of staffing, the agreement includes language obligating the hospitals to follow a state law prohibiting the use of mandatory overtime as a staffing tool, according to the MNA. It also includes a requirement ensuring that "charge nurses" on nearly all hospital units have no assignment or a reduced assignment. Charge nurses serve as the "quarterback" for the unit and assist nurses on complex cases or take on patients in the case of a sudden influx of admissions, the MNA said.

The agreement will also cut nurses' share of their health insurance premiums and reduce full-time eligibility for the benefit from 35 to 30 hours per week. The MNA said the ability to lock in health and dental insurance premiums for the life of the contract had been a "key sticking point" in the negotiations.

The MNA, noting that this is National Nurses Week, said the need for better staffing, wages and benefits is shared by all nurses in the state "who are feeling devalued and disrespected by an industry more focused on profit margins and the bottom line as opposed to worker safety and patient care."

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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