BOSTON--Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Nurses Association reached a tentative agreement Nov. 20 on a new two-year contract that raises pay for nurses and contains new language addressing recent National Labor Relations Board decisions on supervisors.

A tentative agreement was reached after a 14-hour bargaining session and little more than a week before a Nov. 29 strike deadline set by MNA. Union members Nov. 14 voted 2,024 to 116 to authorize the strike (20 LRW 1610, 11/16/06). The old contract between the parties expired Sept. 30 but had been extended until Nov. 27. About 2,700 registered nurses are covered by the agreement; MNA has set a ratification vote for Dec. 12.

Brigham and Women’s President Gary Gottlieb, in a statement, said he is “extremely pleased” with the agreement because it “will allow us to move forward together and build upon our hospital’s commitment and dedication to providing safe and quality care to those who depend on us.” A spokesman said the hospital would have no immediate comment on terms of the pact.

According to the union, the agreement would provide across-the-board wage increases of 3 percent in each year, in addition to existing 5 percent step increases. The contract also would boost the starting rate for new nurses by 5 percent and add a new top step, worth an additional 5 percent, for those with 15 years of service, according to union spokesman David Schildmeier.

By the second year of the agreement, hourly pay would range from a starting rate of $29.31 to $60.98 at the top step, bringing top pay slightly above the current level at Boston Medical Center, Schildmeier said. The contract would boost additional pay for charge nurses by 50 cents, to $2.25 per hour, and provide a $6 per hour rate for on-call nurses, he said.

Pact Would Protect Nurses' Status.

Addressing the NLRB’s recent decision in Oakwood Healthcare Inc. (192 DLR AA-1, 10/4/06), which set out guidelines for determining supervisory status of employees, including charge nurses, the parties agreed that the hospital would “not assign or require bargaining unit nurses to perform any new duties of a supervisory nature” and that it would “not challenge the bargaining unit status of any registered nurse in the bargaining unit.”

If the parties or the NLRB determines that a nurse in the unit is performing supervisory duties and that the activity renders the nurse a supervisor within the meaning of the labor law, “such duty or duties shall be removed from the scope of such nurse’s job description for so long as necessary to avoid exclusion of the nurse from the bargaining unit,” the tentative agreement states. MNA agreed that it would not assert supervisory status in any such proceeding.

Schildmeier said the agreement is the first in Massachusetts to contain language reacting to the NLRB decision, although recent settlements in California and New Jersey have dealt with the issue.

The two sides agreed to abandon key bargaining goals--the hospital withdrew language to address what it regarded as abuse of sick pay, while MNA dropped a proposal for a new short-term disability benefit, the union said.

In the days preceding a strike vote, MNA had said concern about staffing was a major issue in the negotiations. The contract does not change staffing language, but MNA said that the pay raises and new language protecting nurses from taking on too much responsibility in their first 18 months would reduce turnover and ease staffing problems. A bill mandating minimum hospital staff levels for nurses remains the union’s top legislative priority for next year, Schildmeier said.