Contract with nurses offers hope amid industry change
After several years of a relationship that many would describe as adversarial, UMass Memorial Health Care and a key union turned a critical corner last week when they reached a one-year contract agreement for the thousands of nurses who work at the system’s UMass Memorial Medical Center campuses in Worcester.
But it wasn’t as much the usual bullet list of benefits and adjusted pay scales that lie at the heart of labor contract negotiations as it was the more nebulous items, outlined in a statement by the union, that are the more important story line. In an industry facing a continuous maelstrom of change and intense pressure to reduce costs, the agreement lays the foundation for a new – and welcome – relationship between the two sides.
The union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), has been quite vocal about its grievances, and at times been outright confrontational in its public statements. When it has felt it has been pushed too far, the organization has not been hesitant to call out a hospital’s management when it believes reduced staffing levels threaten nurses’ ability to do their jobs right.
So, it came as a pleasant surprise that the MNA, in announcing the new contract, touted the introduction of a “respectful relationship” clause, which calls for the establishment of a process for union and management to meet to address outstanding grievances and “proactively” address ongoing concerns about staffing and workplace issues. That process has already begun for the emergency rooms, the union said. And that’s a good starting point now that UMass Memorial has linked up with CareWell Urgent Care of Quincy to open three urgent care centers in Central Massachusetts, whose purpose is to remove some of the burden from hospital emergency rooms.
This calming of the waters comes at a time when UMass Memorial is seeking to maintain the momentum of better financial results after ending its 2013 fiscal year with a $55 million operating loss. In the two years since Eric Dickson took over as CEO, he has been pursuing what the system’s new human resources director calls a “cultural transformation” to focusing on the patient, and strategies that empower front-line caregivers to have more power in decision making.
“Much remains to be done” in pursuit of that, said the human resources chief, Bart Metzger, who may be the most satisfied executive in Central Massachusetts this month after negotiating with the unions and closing the one-year deal. The agreement buys UMass Memorial some time to work through the changes in the organization and industry before sitting down again to hammer out a new — and we hope longer — contract. The one-year deal will succeed a recently expired three-year pact.
But there are others who may be amazed simply because of the nature of the new contract.
“Whenever there is a paradigm change being contemplated by either labor or management … there is a healthy dose of skepticism,” Metzger told the Worcester Business Journal last week. “There are a number of folks who couldn’t imagine (UMass Memorial and the union) having a different kind of conversation.” He called it a “huge breakthrough.”
We hope this is a sign of a more amicable relationship that will benefit management, labor, patients, and the community.
Because UMass Memorial is the region’s largest employer, what happens there impacts the entire health-care ecosystem and the economy. A steadier, less contentious relationship with this large group of employees is welcome news.
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