Brattleboro Federation of Nurses wins impressive salary hike,
limits on mandatory overtime 

The Brattleboro (Vermont) Federation of Nurses/AFT is taking a new approach to discouraging mandatory overtime: They're making their hospital pay dearly for it. In their new contract with Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, ratified on Sept. 28, the Brattleboro federation won a provision that will require the hospital to ask for volunteers to cover understaffed shifts before mandating any nurse to work overtime. What's more, the new contract stipulates that nurses who cover such shifts will be paid an extra $12.50 an hour, plus time and a half.

BFN president Gloria Solar said, "Like nurses across the country, we've seen a dramatic increase in the use of mandatory overtime, which has led to exhausted nurses taking care of patients. Our contract language will limit the use of mandatory overtime by creating financial disincentives to the hospital if they use it." Solar called the new contract "a very significant achievement for our nurses, and one we could not have reached without a union."

The union, which represents nearly 100 registered nurses at the hospital, also won an average 20.7 percent increase in compensation over the next three years, which breaks out to an average 8.9 percent in the first year of the contract, 6.2 percent in the second year, and 5.6 percent in the third year. Solar believes that the hefty compensation hike will improve nurse recruitment and retention at Brattleboro Memorial.

"The increases mean that Brattleboro Memorial Hospital will be better able to staff its units and thus be able to deliver an improved quality of patient care," she said.