WORCESTER – Saint Vincent Hospital sent what it calls a “third proposal option” to the Massachusetts Nursing Association [MNA] on Sunday, June 27.
This is the first new proposal in the labor dispute between the hospital and its nurses since May 5. The strike, which nurses began on March 8, reached its 111th day on Sunday.
Saint Vincent Hospital says this third proposal alternative maintains previously offered wage increases, health insurance premium improvements for some nurses, and security enhancements.
According to the Hospital, the new aspects of this proposal include resource nurses, on day and evening shift for all medical/surgical units, as well as incremental resource nurses in other areas of the hospital. It also includes limits patient limits for these resource nurses, enabling them to help other nurses or to assist with unique circumstances.
St. Vincent also said it analyzed what other MNA bargaining units in other hospitals have accepted to create this proposal.
Nurses Response
The MNA says it received the proposal on Sunday morning from a federal government mediator involved in trying to broker an end to the dispute.
A statement from the MNA released on Sunday afternoon said the latest offer “appears to be another public relations ploy by Tenet.” Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) is the publicly traded corporation that operates the hospital.
The newest proposal returns staffing grids stripped in the last proposal, which are part of the last contract the two sides agreed upon, according the MNA. It also said the offer “provides no meaningful steps in response to the nurses staffing concerns, and even reduces staffing protections in a number of areas.”
Marlena Pellegrino, RN, a nurse at St. Vincent and co-chair of the local bargaining unit called the offer “one step forward and two steps back.”
MNA bargaining unit members will meet on Monday to review the latest hospital proposal.
