Our last bargaining session with PRMCE was on May 11. Since that session we have not received a response from PRMCE for new bargaining dates. We are committed to continuing negotiations as soon as possible! Every day our staffing assignments get harder due to nurses resigning and hundreds of vacancies. Since the start of bargaining we have told the Hospital that we need to resolve this staffing crisis through competitive wages and better staffing language. The contract that our Union Bargaining Team proposed attempts to address retention and recruitment of nurses. We recognize the staffing issues we face at PRMCE need to be addressed with a comprehensive multi-action approach.

Below are a few of the proposals the RN team made in our last session. Some of these proposals the Hospital agreed to or proposed a lesser version of:

1. Hazard pay of $12 for emergent circumstances (like declared state of emergency)

2. Staffing: if a unit is staffed less than 90% of the unit’s staffing plan, the nurses on that unit will receive $5/hour premium

3. Break relief nurses for every unit

4. Internal equity: if a new employee is hired into a pay level greater than the  employee’s experience the entire pay range will be adjusted to reflect the placement of the new hire. Example: if the new hire should be on Step 4, but is placed on Step 8, Step 8 will become the new Step 4 and all nurses will have their wages increased to reflect the adjustment.

5. $3.00 Evening shift differential and $6.50 Night shift differential

6. For night shift nurses: after working on night shift for 24 months nurses would receive an additional $5.00 on top of the night shift differential. This is proposal is to recognize the longevity of night shift nurses.

7. $7 Standby pay

8. Increased premium for preceptors to $2.00 to train the nurses we desperately need.

9. Double time for standby on holidays

10. Added Veteran’s Day, Juneteenth, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to holiday list. PRMCE proposed cutting Presidents Day to allow Juneteenth.

11. Expanded holiday pay for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for night shift nurses. Consistent with other contracts in the area we proposed expanded hours for holiday pay on Christmas eve and Christmas day from 7pm on 12/23 to 7AM on 12/26.

12. $800 Standby Bonus for nurses who work more than 500 standby hours each calendar year, $1100 standby bonus for nurses who work more than 800 standby hours in a half year, $1250 for nurses who work more than 1100 standby hours in a half year.

13. Proposed improvements to health insurance by reducing out of pocket cost.

14. Allowing union rep into employee lounges and to remain member of staffing committee

15. 40 hours (pro-rated by FTE) for education hours and increased education money

16. Additional PTO to honor longevity of nurses over 15 years

17. Wages

• Step increments between steps would be an average of 2.5%. Currently the step increments vary between step

• Increase base to Swedish’s base rate of $42.22 on June 1, 2023. The new wage table would range from $42.22 (Base)  80.55 (Step 35)

• November 1, 2023 8.25% increase

• 2024 5% increase

• 2025 6.5% increase

To clarify, we do NOT have a tentative agreement. These proposals have not been fully agreed to by the Hospital! As you can see, there are some areas that we have some agreement on, but differ drastically on wages, staffing, and other contract language. We need Providence to come back to the bargaining table immediately! Nurses deserve better NOW!