Saint Vincent reaches tentative agreement with technicians union

Photo | Grant Welker Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester

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By Grant Welker

Saint Vincent Hospital has reached a tentative agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 600 workers at the Worcester hospital, including patient care assistants and critical care technicians.

The union's membership will vote of its membership to ratify the deal Friday, which would enable the hospital to avoid a second labor strike at the same time a strike with an 800-member nurses union nears the end of its second week.

Saint Vincent CEO Carolyn Jackson detailed the latest in a staff memo late Thursday, saying she hoped the union's affirmation of the tentative agreement could enable the hospital to put wage increases and other aspects of the contract in place immediately. Jackson previously cited a ratification bonus.

Gabriel Camacho, the political director of the UFCW Local 1445, said the tentative agreement includes pay increases and language changes for safety measures for staff and patients. The UFCW also represents clerks, clinical support, housekeeping, radiology assistants, operating room aides and pulmonary technicians.

"Did we get everything we wanted? No, but that's the nature of these things," Camacho said.

The UFCW picketed last Saturday with Massachusetts Nurses Association union members on strike in a sign of solidarity as both unions were pushing the hospital for better staff-to-patient ratios. Saint Vincent's contract with the UFCW expired at the end of February.

Camacho said the UFCW still stands in support of the local Massachusetts Nurses Association members.