Washington Hospital Center and Nurses United Ratify New 3-Year Nursing Contract Affecting 1,200 RNs 3/30/2004
From: LeRoy Tillman of the Washington Hospital Center, 202-877-7072, leroy.w.tillman@medstar.net WASHINGTON, March 30 -- More than 1,200 nurses at Washington Hospital Center, the region's largest hospital, overwhelmingly ratified a three-year labor contract on Tuesday, March 30, successfully concluding a seamless nine-month negotiating process with its new union -- Nurses United of the National Capital Region ("Nurses United"). The agreement will be effective Sunday, April 4. The previous union, the District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA), was decertified as the bargaining agent for nurses after an election that took place in July 2003. Contract negotiations with Nurses United began last September. The contract includes a new wage scale, which provides for a 24 percent salary increase in the starting rate of new nursing graduates, a move that will allow the Hospital Center to be a market leader in pay for new graduates. The new rate for nursing graduates will be $24 per hour; the previous rate was $19.41. The ability to recruit more new graduates and early career nurses, who nationally are in short supply, is considered essential for the Hospital Center's long-term future as its nursing workforce ages. The Hospital Center's more experienced nurses, already market leaders in compensation, will receive, at a minimum, 3.5 percent salary increases per year plus numerous other perks -- such as a "reduced work option" at age 55 with 25 years of seniority and assistance toward health insurance for senior part-time RNs. Other components of the contract, which both sides viewed as very favorable, included: salary increases over three years for nurses in the hospital's float pool, enhancements to benefits for weekend (WIN) nurses, increased equity in holiday scheduling, an enhanced holiday benefit for those working 12 hours on holidays, parking on-site, an additional paid day off for senior nurses, and increases in "on-call pay" for those working in the operating room. "I could not be more pleased with the constructive and collegial negotiating process with Nurses United," said James F. Caldas, president of Washington Hospital Center. "The contract is generous and appropriate to the needs of both sides. It truly represents the common ground that both sides have been seeking -- a safe and satisfying work environment and a generous, market- competitive compensation package that is fair to the hospital and its nurses. Our nurses are a vital component of our workforce and we greatly respect their contributions here. This new contract reflects those sentiments and ushers in a new and positive era in our nurse-management relationship." Three years ago, Washington Hospital Center encountered a 47- day nurses' strike led by its previous nurses union - DCNA. Since then, with the advent of a new nurses union and a new hospital president, significant progress has been made in strengthening the bonds between nursing and management, with both sides committed to further enhancing the patient care experience at Washington Hospital Center. -- News editors: Spokespersons for Nurses United can be reached at 301-588-8851 or at 301-589-1900. Washington Hospital Center is a 907-bed, acute care teaching and research hospital based in Northwest Washington, D.C. It is the largest private hospital in the nation's capital and has the thirteenth-highest patient volume in the United States. The Hospital Center is home to the nation's third-largest cardiac program. It also has a comprehensive Cancer Institute; a full- range of women's services; and extensive organ transplantation program; one of the nation's top shock/trauma centers; and the most advanced burn center in the region. |