St. Charles Bend nurses’ pact focuses on staffing, voice

(Update: Comments from nurse, hospital official)

After 26 negotiation sessions — and more than six months after the last contract expired, St. Charles Bend and the union representing nearly 900 registered nurses reached tentative agreement on a new contract during a marathon session that ended over the weekend, both sides said Monday.

Registered nurse Jackie Howe said Monday she and her colleagues are relieved that negotiations have finally reached a deal.

“The sense that got when I went to work today was that all nurses are pretty excited. They’re excited to find out the details. A sense of relief I guess, it’s been a long seven months,” Howe said.

The union said the new contract would be in effect, if ratified, until the end of 2022. Nurses have been working without a contract since the last one expired last June 30.

In the tentative agreement, St. Charles said it agrees to limit the floating of nurses from one department to another. This will ensure that every patient is treated by nurses trained to meet their specific need.

That’s an important piece of safe staffing, explained Debbie Robinson, chief nursing officer for St. Charles Bend.

“If you’re not familiar with the specifics regarding a disease or the physicians that take care of those patients, you’re just less at ease, and you’re depending more on the nurses near you to help you. You might even be in a different environment, right?” Robinson said.

Another piece of the new agreement creates a shared governance structure between management and nurses. According to the ONA, it will now be split evenly.

“F or me, staff staffing was really important, but also the new shared governance models,” Howe said. “Nurses are looking forward to collaborating with hospital managers more, the fact that we have a lot of say in our unit practice councils.”

The hospital and nurses represented by the Oregon Nurses Association “reached a tentative agreement early Saturday morning on all remaining articles in the contract,” the hospital said in a brief statement. The talks, overseen by a federal mediator, wrapped up after a marathon, two-day session that ended after 1 a.m. Saturday.

“We want to thank the members of both bargaining teams for the months they have spent working toward a fair contract,” said Robinson.

“We greatly appreciate the dedication and commitment to our patients and community. We are thrilled to have reached a conclusion that both sides feel good about and are ready to move forward and focus on what we do best – providing safe, quality patient care.”

Full details will be shared with Bend nurses by the ONA in coming days and the union will schedule a ratification vote. the St. Charles Health System said.

The agreement includes a four and a half year contract that start date would be July 1, 2018 and end at the end of 2022.

According to the ONA, the pay increase will be between 11 and 12 percent for the contract’s duration. This amounts to 2 to 4 percent per year. In the third year, if the cost of living has risen according to the consumer price index, nurses salaries will go up more.

The contract must be ratified by a majority of the more than 900 nurses represented within the bargaining unit before it is implemented. The nurses will continue working under the existing contract language, as they have throughout negotiations, until the ratification vote takes place.

” I’m proud of both negotiating teams for continuing to come back to the table and doing the hard work that led to this agreement,” said Aaron Adams, president of St. Charles Bend. “The teams came together and reached terms that both parties felt were fair. We are pleased with the result and look forward to the next four-and-a-half years of stability the agreement provides for our organization.”

In its own announcement of the agreement, ONA officials said nurses and hospital administrators have been meeting since last June “to try and reach a fair agreement that improves patients’ care.”

“This agreement is a win for our community’s health,” said local nurse leader and ONA bargaining unit chair David Hilderbrand, RN. “I’m very proud of nurses and hospital administrators who came together to reach an agreement that puts patients first and gives us new tools to address shared concerns like staffing and practice standards.”

“We have more work to do, but this is a promising step in our shared efforts to make sure high-quality, affordable health care is available to everyone in Central Oregon,” he added.

As part of the tentative agreement, nurses have agreed to cancel the informational picket scheduled in a week “and want to thank the entire Central Oregon community for their support throughout negotiations,” the ONA statement said.

Nurses will continue their planned food drive this month to support Central Oregon families in need. More details on the food drive will be shared on nurses’ Facebook page when it becomes available: https://www.facebook.com/StCharlesNurses/

The ONA provided some broad details of the proposed contract

Tentative Agreement Highlights:

Improves patient care by limiting floating between hospital departments to ensure every patient is treated by nurses trained to meet their specific needs.
Creates a shared governance structure to increase accountability around staffing and practice issues. The new shared governance model will allow direct-care nurses and managers to work together to quickly address practice concerns.
Gives nurses an equal voice on unit practice committees to raise health care standards.
Offers variable cost-of-living increases to provide financial flexibility for the hospital while helping recruit and retain nurses. Cost-of-living-increases will be based in part on the consumer price index and range between 2-4 percent per year.
Supports plans for new residency and fellowship programs to improve staffing and training for high-demand specialties.

The local nurse negotiating team is recommending a “yes” vote on the contract agreement. Nurses will schedule a vote to approve the tentative agreement in the coming weeks. If approved, the new agreement will be effective immediately and run through Dec. 31, 2022.