Members of U-M Professional Nurse Council/Michigan Nurses Association voted affirmatively last week on a new contract to succeed the previous one that was ratified in 2008 and expired June 30.
More than 4,000 nurses working throughout the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers are covered by the new agreement, including staff and advanced practice nurses, such as clinical nurse specialists, educational nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and certified nurse midwives.
Highlights of the new, three-year agreement include a competitive wage program, a phasing in of health insurance premium changes starting in 2013, revisions to retirement eligibility in 2014, some modifications to how overtime pay is calculated, and an integration of the Michigan Visiting Nurses into the master agreement.
Since bargaining began in April, both sides met 49 times with assistance from a facilitator and state mediator. Throughout contract bargaining, both sides worked together through good faith negotiations to come to a mutual agreement on a number of important issues. The new contract will expire on June 30, 2014.
“Nurses are incredibly valuable members of our health care teams and we are very pleased to have reached a successful agreement with the UMPNC/MNA,” says Dr. Ora Pescovitz, executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan and CEO of the U-M Health System. “Our top priority is to provide exceptional care for our patients and one of the many ways we accomplish this is by recruiting and retaining the highest caliber nurses.”
