Welcome settlement; St. Vincent nurses ratify new contract.COLUMN: IN OUR OPINIONUnionized nurses at St. Vincent Hospital voted decisively to accept a new four-year contract with Vanguard Health, averting a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. a repeat of the 49-day strike in 2000 under the previous owner, Tenet Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) is an operating company that owns and operates 57 hospitals in the United States [1]. It is based in Dallas, Texas. Its stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange is NYSE: THC. . The vote to accept the contract was 349-6, with 345 union members not voting. The welcome agreement came after 15 months of talks and a Jan. 25 union vote to authorize To empower another with the legal right to perform an action. The Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. authorize v. to officially empower someone to act. (See: authority) a walkout. The contract calls for a minimum increase of 14.5 percent over the life of the contract. The most senior nurses will get increases totaling up to 33 percent. The hospital and nurses also compromised on staffing mandates. Vanguard will add three nurses to St. Vincent's expanded emergency room. Staff also will be increased on the night shift for the medical/surgical, post-cardiac surgery and telemetry telemetry Highly automated communications process by which data are collected from instruments located at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for measurement, monitoring, display, and recording. floors and management will create four-nurse patient safety and support teams, which will be available to step in to non-routine situations. Rigid staffing mandates, while often counterproductive coun·ter·pro·duc·tive adj. Tending to hinder rather than serve one's purpose: "Violation of the court order would be counterproductive" Philip H. Lee. and wasteful, are warranted in these particular areas, where special training and skills are required. Under the new contract, the nurses' contribution to their employer-supported health insurance premiums will remain unchanged. Overall, the settlement appears to balance the needs of the hospital and the community, while recognizing the crucial role nurses fill. |
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