Nurses contract OK'd by trustees

http://bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=155415&zoneid=176

By Meg Haskell
Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BANGOR, Maine — A new three-year contract covering about 870 registered nurses at Eastern Maine Medical Center received the endorsement of the hospital’s board of trustees Monday afternoon. The board’s approval follows ratification by the nurses over the weekend and brings to a close a traumatic negotiating period that brought the 400-bed hospital to the brink of an unprecedented one-day strike, largely over the issue of staffing.

The contract was approved by all 19 board members present at a hastily convened meeting with one member absent. The new contract took effect immediately.

The two sides had been stalemated for two weeks, primarily over the nurses’ demand for a "professional practice committee" made up of all staff nurses with binding input into staffing decisions and other matters. Negotiators for the Maine State Nurses Association maintained such a committee was essential to nurses’ ability to have control over their profession. The hospital rejected it as running counter to the institution’s "culture of inclusion" by bypassing nurse managers charged with the smooth operation of their patient care units.

Included in the contract that has now been approved and accepted by both sides is language that establishes a professional practice committee comprising eight staff nurses appointed by the nurses’ union and eight nurse managers appointed by the hospital. The committee will be co-chaired by a staff nurse and a nurse manager. The entire committee will meet monthly to discuss staffing levels and other matters that affect patient care.

FULL story at link.

seems like a win/win for the patients.