Nurses at a western Massachusetts hospital have ratified a new contract ending a lengthy dispute with management.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association said the vote by nearly 200 nurses at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield was unanimous to approve the new five year contract. Nurse Donna Stern, co-chair of the bargaining unit, said nurses are relieved the, at times acrimonious, 29 month standoff with the hospital is over.
" I do think it is going to take a little bit of time. This has been a long long negotiating process and it has affected everyone at the hospital, not just nurses."
A key provision of the contract is the creation of a task force to look at hospital staffing and the use of overtime.
