The union and the hospital have been in a contract dispute for two years. The nurses went on a one-day strike in October 2012. The overtime payment model is the main source of contention, according to the report: The current model is daily bonus pay, but it could switch to a weekly model, based on a 40-hour week.
A federally appointed mediator has been present for the past year’s negotiations, but he is currently furloughed due to the government shutdown, according to the report. Union leaders would like to use arbitration to settle the contract dispute, but hospital officials would rather continue discussions without arbitration.
“Putting these decisions in the hands of an unknown party that [has] no background and no experience with what’s going on here specifically…you get an arbitrary decision,” Baystate Franklin President Chuck Gijanto told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
If a strike is authorized, the union could strike at any time, as long as it gives the hospital a 10-day notice.
More Articles on Hospitals and Unions:
Union Plans Strike Vote Affecting University of California Hospitals
Strike at Dignity’s Dominican Hospital
Gouverneur Hospital to Recognize E.J. Noble Hospital’s Unions
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