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- Nurses United for Improved Patient Care in Kansas City, Mo., whose members working at Lee's Summit Hospital in Lee's Summit Mo., elected the Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals as their bargaining representative in April, have completed the first round of negotiations for their first contract. Lee's Summit Hospital is one of 15 health facilities owned by Health Midwest (HMW) in the Kansas City, Mo., area. Meanwhile, nurses at HMW's Menorah Medical Center on Aug. 31 filed with the National Labor Relations Board for a collective bargaining election—their goal is to join the FNHP.
- The Federation of Nurses/United Federation of Teachers (FN/UFT) has a new three-year contract for its home health nurses at Jewish Home and Hospital of New York in New York City with improvements that include increases in regular on-call pay and for holiday on-call work, for which they will now be paid double time and a half. The 35-RN unit also negotiated an important work improvement called "geographic compactness," which means that home care assignments will be geographically consolidated and no longer be spread out over Manhattan for any given nurse. The contract, ratified in late June, also includes a base pay raise of 3 percent, 2-1/2 percent and 2-1/2 percent over the three-year period.
- Just three days after Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals members voted to ratify an historic national agreement with Kaiser Permanente affecting the quality of patient care, the OFNHP secured union recognition for a group of 108 medical technologists, cyto technologists and cyto-genetic technologists working at clinic-based and regional labs in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon. More than 60 percent of the technologists had signed cards signifying their desire to join OFNHP. "We're pleased to finally be able to offer representation to these professionals who've wanted to join the OFNHP since 1985," said OFNHP president Kathy Schmidt, who attributed the Sept. 29 card-check recognition to the labor-management partnership with Kaiser.
- The Health Professionals and Allied Employees' members in three separate units at Bayonne Hospital in Bayonne, N.J., each ratified first contracts in early September. The HPAE won restrictions on mandatory overtime, which limits its imposition of no more than eight hours in a 30-day period. In wages: the union won a minimum 3 percent wage increase the first year and 3.5 percent in year two. Those with 15 years' seniority will be placed at the maximum wage rate, which will provide an additional 2 percent to 10 percent for some members. The HPAE won strong staffing committee language and access to outcome data. The RNs, technical and service personnel and other professionals at Bayonne—approximately 800 members total—voted for HPAE since November '99.
- The 650 HPAE Local 5105 members at Virtua-Memorial Alliance in Mount Holly, N.J., won agreement on a new contract this summer. Among the significant accomplishments are wage increases averaging 14 percent to 16 percent over the life of the three-year contract, with bonuses for some nurses at the top of their wage scales and major limitations on the use of mandatory overtime. The local also secured safety escorts for all home health nurses doing home visits.
