Registered nurses at Wareham, Mass.-based Tobey Hospital ratified a two-year contract and National Labor Relations Board settlement agreement March 8.
The ratification vote covers 150 nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
Under the contract, nurses will receive pay increases, and affected nurses who are part of the NLRB settlement will receive payments as high as $10,000 by TH's owner and operator, Southcoast Hospitals Group, according to a union news release.
The MNA said the contract and NLRB settlement resolves issues that began three years ago when SHG declared an impasse during contract negotiations in April 2015. The impasse resulted in various contract changes such as pay and benefit losses, according to union officials. The situation also left nurses unable to bargain for a successor contract.
The MNA said it challenged what it saw as an illegal impasse declaration, which, after numerous legal proceedings including a trial and lengthy appeals process, was ultimately upheld and resulted in the NLRB settlement.
Future contract talks will likely begin in the late spring/early summer of 2019.
Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review could not immediately reach TH for comment. Additional details will be posted as they become available.
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