Nurses at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth voted overwhelming Tuesday to approve a new three-year contract.
But many nurses apparently did not vote.
Of about 400 BID-Plymouth nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, only 210 voted. The final tally was 189-21, according to MNA spokesman David Schildmeier, who said it’s not unusual for some members not to vote because they think the agreement will be ratified with or without them.
In a news release Wednesday, the union said the negotiations, which had been ongoing since October, intensified after the nurses’ March vote authorizing a possible three-day strike.
Members of the local MNA bargaining committee, who had been in negotiations with hospital managers for months, said the pact – which runs from January 2025 through December 2027 – contains “significant” improvements in staffing and pay.
“We are both thrilled and proud to have achieved a contract that addressed what we believe is essential to ensuring we can provide the quality care this community expects and deserves,” said Liz Taylor, co-chair of the nurses’ local bargaining unit.
“Our members, with the strong support we have received from our community, made a stand for the safety of our patients and the dignity of those who care for them, and we look forward to working with our administration to ensure a bright future for BID-Plymouth.”
But several other nurses told the Independent last week that they are unhappy with the deal, which came together on May 15. They said the contract provides good raises only to the most senior nurses and does little to address their top priority — the need for additional staffing.
“With no widespread staffing changes, conditions at BID- Plymouth are not safer for staff or patients,” one nurse said.
Union officials argued the agreement does improve staffing by mandating negotiated caps on the number of patients assigned to a nurse at one time.
Donna Doherty, the hospital’s senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, said she was “pleased” with the agreement, which “will invest in our nursing team with a comprehensive package which includes market competitive rates reflecting the extraordinary care they provide our community.”
The contract boosts the pay of all Plymouth nurses, but the size of the raise varies with a nurse’s length of service.
The median hourly rate will jump from $53 an hour to $62.78.
Over the life of the agreement, the largest percentage increases would go to the nurses with the most service.
Under the contract, the hourly rate for a second-year nurse would increase by 13.62 percent, from $40.96 to $46.54.
But for nurses with 18 years of experience, the hourly rate would rise by 27.4 percent, from $70.85 to $90.26.
Union leaders acknowledged that raising the pay of long-serving nurses was a priority.
“We made strategic decisions around wages,” MNA spokesman Joe Markman said last week. “The vast majority of BID-Plymouth nurses are clustered at the top of the wage scale, many of whom haven’t received a meaningful raise in years.
“This agreement corrects that — with top-step nurses receiving increases of up to 27percent, a long-overdue acknowledgment of their experience and service,” he said.
Union officials pointed to several other contract provisions they said will benefit the nurses.
The proposal eliminates mandatory overtime and prevents so-called “charge nurses” — floor managers — from being assigned patients when units are understaffed.
To make that work, the union said, the hospital will add four nurse positions in two units — critical care and clinical decision.
But nurses have been advocating for additional nurses in each of the hospital’s 25 units.
The March 20 vote would have allowed the nurses’ bargaining committee to schedule a three-day strike at some future undetermined date. The union would have been required to give the hospital 10 days’ notice before walking off the job.
The nurses argued that heavy patient workloads were compromising the care the nurses could provide their patients. They had been in negotiations since early October.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.