On September 20, our Union RN Bargaining Team fought hard to reach a tentative agreement on previously agreed upon articles from expedited bargaining. Instead of agreeing to all of these tentative agreements from expedited bargaining, the Hospital Management team has been rejecting our proposals. This shows their lack of urgency to reach a tentative agreement. It also is a unfair labor practice!

We are intent on reaching a fair agreement prior to our contract expiration date, October 30, 2023, and avoiding a strike. But when Hospital Management is making minimal movement on key issues like compensation and staffing language and bargaining in bad faith we must take action to move them towards an agreement!

We ended bargaining with a comprehensive package proposal. Our hope is that on our next bargaining session, September 26, which will be in-person, the Hospital’s team will adjust their proposals and come to an agreement as expeditiously as possible.

In the meantime, we will be speaking to the community and elected officials about our fight for safe staffing and the Hospital’s punitive tactics at the bargaining table.

“We want this contract for the community, for the nurses and most of all to improve patient safety through better retention and strong staffing language.”– Stephanie Sausman