The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, Local 5001, and St. Francis Hospital of Milwaukee ratified contracts in December for employees in the nursing, technical and service bargaining units with more than 80 percent support. The three-year contracts, which cover more than 1,100 employees, went into effect Jan.1. Highlights of the contract include 2 percent pay increases in each of the two years of the contract, 2 percent anniversary increases each year and a pilot 2 percent "pay for performance" system in the third year. A comprehensive, flexible benefits program includes three healthcare plan options, dental insurance, vision care, paid time off, short- and long-term disability, expanded life insurance options, long-term care options and prepaid legal insurance options. Employees will shift to a paid time off system. Mandatory overtime generally will be limited to four hours, with a maximum set at eight hours.

Professional workers represented by Health Professional and Allied Employers, Local 5094, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey, recently ratified a three-year agreement. The professionals include researchers, medical technologists, mental health clinicians, physician assistants, pharmacists and social workers. Major contractual improvements include reimbursement for continuing education, compensation for weekend work, better promotion policies and an annual wage increase of up to 11.5 percent over three years. And after a seven-year freeze, yearly step increases for experience and seniority have been reinstated.

Business office workers at Bayonne Hospital in Bayonne, N.J., voted overwhelmingly for representation by the Bayonne Hospital HPAE, Local 5185. The 35 workers were the only employees in the hospital not represented by the union.

Kansas City Nurses United, Local 5126, elected its first officers in December. The officers are: president Mary Nash, a nurse at the Medical Center of Independence (MCI); vice president Kelly High, a nurse at Menorah Medical Center; secretary Dana Worley, a nurse at Lee's Summit Hospital; and treasurer Mary Cairns, a nurse at MCI.

Registered nurses at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn., ratified a three-year contract in December, averting a strike. More than 400 nurses, members of AFT Connecticut, Local 5049, voted 2-to-1 in favor of the contract. In November, the licensed practical nurses who bargain along with the RNs accepted a three-year contract that guaranteed wage increases of 5 percent in the first year and 4 percent in the second and third years. The RNs rejected that offer because the wage increases did not cover proposed increases to their health insurance. Although the contract the RNs approved includes the same wage increases, the agreement allows them to renegotiate wages, health insurance and retirement benefits after the second year. Further, all employees now are able to buy prescriptions directly through the hospital.