Rhode Island Hospital, UNAP Local 5098 to resume negotiations Aug. 17

UNITED NURSES & Allied Professionals Local 5098 and Rhode Island Hospital did not resolve their dispute during a seven-hour meeting Wednesday but have agreed to resume negotiations Friday. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND HOSPITAL

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island Hospital, owned by Lifespan Corp., and United Nurses & Allied Professionals Local 5098 ended a seven-hour negotiation meeting Wednesday without an agreement on a new contract but an appointment to resume discussions Friday and differing accounts of the nature of the talks.

UNAP represents approximately 2,400 nurses, technologists, therapists and mental health workers at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children’s hospitals. The previous contract expired June 30. An earlier impasse between the parties resulted in a four-day strike from July 23 at 3 p.m. until July 27 at 3 p.m.

“Today, Lifespan made clear its intent to punish union members for exercising their protected rights to strike by further threatening the economic security and health care of UNAP members and their families,” said Frank Sims, UNAP Local 5098 president. “While some progress was made during last week’s negotiations, today’s exchange was a sharp step backward. It’s almost as if management is goading us into another work action.”

Ray Sullivan, spokesman for the union, declined to elaborate on how Lifespan had threatened workers’ health care. During the strike, Lifespan and Rhode Island Hospital officials said about $10 million spent on replacement workers would need to be taken out of the contract offer to the union.

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“Despite the hospital’s best efforts and a greater sense of urgency, the UNAP committee responded with very minimal movement on key issues. Both sides have agreed to meet again on Friday, Aug. 17,” read a statement from Rhode Island Hospital released Wednesday after talks ended.

An email from Lifespan sent to all Rhode Island Hospital employees provided more detail on the negotiations:

“The hospital met with the federal mediator and the UNAP bargaining committee for seven hours today. At last week’s session, the hospital made significant movement to attempt to address concerns identified by the UNAP leadership, including:

  • Agreeing to the union’s proposal on staffing, equipment and supplies.
  • Agreeing to eliminate the minimum step and add a new Step 11.
  • Agreeing to continue to grandfather the medical premium rates for employees hired before 1983.

The hospital was hopeful that UNAP leadership would respond similarly and present a proposal that would advance the process. Unfortunately, that did not happen: UNAP presented a proposal that did not change its position on wages and represented no real movement of any kind, changing its position on full-time medical premiums by only 1 percent. Nonetheless, the hospital responded by agreeing to the full-time premium rate UNAP proposed. UNAP responded again with no real movement. It is unfortunate that UNAP leadership does not appear to be interested in reaching an agreement anytime soon.”

The email provided additional details about the agreements thus far with the union:

“In an effort to clarify those misunderstandings, in addition to the bullet points above, the hospital and the union reached the following agreements:

Retirement: A current employee can choose to keep the exact retirement benefit that he/she has now or to move into the hospital’s 401(k) plan, which has a guaranteed match of up to 6 percent. It is entirely the employee’s choice.

No layoff: The current no-layoff commitment will be extended through the term of the contract.

On-call: An employee will have the right to refuse one on-call assignment on less than five days’ notice.

Vacation scheduling: The vacation scheduling process improved. If an employee chooses not to take vacation, that vacation will be offered to other employees in the unit.

Staffing, supplies and equipment: A joint labor-management working group will be tasked, with the assistance of an outside facilitator, to address these important issues.

Clinical advancement: Nurses will be eligible for significant pay increases through a clinical advancement program. The union and the hospital will work to create a similar program for technologists.”

“Despite management’s punitive and irresponsible posturing, we will be back at the table on Friday to continue working toward a fair and competitive contract,” Sims said.

Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com

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