Nurses at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Mass., have ratified a new union contract with workplace violence protections and gender identity anti-discrimination language, reports The Recorder.
The 325 nurses of Cooley Dickinson Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted on the contract Feb. 1. It includes a new section protecting staff by removing their last name from badges and by the creation of a new hospitalwide policy called "Prevention of Workplace Violence or Abuse," the union said. Additionally, the contract adds gender identity or gender expression to the protected categories in the MNA contract, and it eliminates the lowest pay grade for nurses, among other things.
The agreement runs through Jan. 21, 2020.