WORCESTER – After 285 days and 43 negotiating sessions, the Massachusetts Nurses Association [MNA] announced its plans to vote for ratification of the new contract with Saint Vincent Hospital on January 3.
According to the MNA, the tentative agreement reached on Friday, December 17, nurses return to their original positions with staffing improvements that increase patient safety. The MNA also agreed to end picketing from December 20 through January 4.
The tentative agreement reached on Friday came in an in-person session mediated by U.S. Secretary of Labor, and former Boston Mayor, Marty Walsh.
“With this agreement we can go back into that building with great pride not just in what we got in writing in the agreement, but for what we have built together as nurses who know they did everything they could for their patients and their community,” said Dominique Muldoon, RN, a nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the bargaining unit. “Once this is ratified by the members, we are now committed to getting back into that building as soon as possible to provide the care our patients deserve.”
Specific details of the tentative agreement are being withheld from the public while the MNA distributes the full text to all its members this week, in preparation for the January 3 vote.
