Workers at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Mass., represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, have reached an agreement with the hospital's parent company, Boston-based Steward Health Care System, according to The Lowell Sun.
Here are four things to know about the agreement.
1. David Schildmeier, director of public communications for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, called it "an agreement concept."
2. Details about the agreement were not disclosed. However, Mr. Schildmeier did tell The Lowell Sun a one-day strike authorization was postponed indefinitely and additional details about the agreement "will be ironed out" at a meeting with a mediator.
3. Both Mr. Schildmeier and hospital administrators expressed pleasure that an agreement was reached. "In the past year, we have signed multiyear contracts with the MNA [Massachusetts Nurses Association] that include annual pay increases and very generous health insurance benefits at four other Steward hospitals. We also recently finalized a contract with 1199SEIU at Nashoba Valley," the hospital administrators said in a statement, according to the report. They added, "The proposed contract will allow us to continue to deliver high-quality care to patients at Nashoba Valley Medical Center."
4. The agreement comes about a week after a public hearing of the Massachusetts Workers' Rights Board, in which union nurses alleged poor working conditions at the hospital.
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