Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island reached a tentative agreement with 1199SEIU — the union that represents the hospital’s frontline staff — early Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, the union withdrew their strike notice, according to a press release. The strike, approved by union workers with ninety percent of the votes, had been scheduled for Dec. 12, The Herald previously reported.
For the workers, the new three-year contract will include “industry-leading wage increases” and boost retirement benefits, according to the union.
Over 2,000 union members will vote on ratification of the agreement later this week, 1199SEIU announced in a statement shared with The Herald.
In a Nov. 27 statement, the union alleged that employers failed to “bargain in good faith,” citing management’s refusal to negotiate new conditions of employment and communicate information relevant to the bargaining process.
Nurse Lactation Consultant and Union Delegate Nancy Chandley Adams previously identified compensation, staffing and working conditions as leading concerns for union members in an interview with The Herald.
It had been “months of feeling like we’re disrespected,” Chandley Adams said at the time, also citing inflation and the pandemic as economic stressors affecting the union’s members.
Care New England President Shannon Sullivan told WJAR last week that the hospital had been “negotiating in good faith for two months.”
The union also alleged intimidation, threats and “physical acts against union members” by management in the article.
In one instance, a manager “hit a worker” during a union meeting, 1199SEIU Elected Organizer Heather Kelley claimed in an interview with The Herald.
“We do not tolerate any form of workplace violence. The hospital takes all accusations seriously, conducts thorough investigations and appropriately addresses any inappropriate behavior,” wrote CNE Spokesperson Raina Smith in an email to The Herald.
“It has not been an easy road, but we are hopeful this allows us a new opportunity for respect and communication between union workers and management to the benefit of our patients,” Chandley Adams wrote in the union’s statement.
Contract negotiations had been ongoing since early October. The hospital workers’ most recent contract expired on Nov. 30.
Two weeks earlier, over 1,200 frontline WIH staff held an informational picket about staffing shortages and other labor concerns.
“We are ready to move forward with all our colleagues to focus on what is most important: providing outstanding care,” Sullivan wrote in the CNE press release.
Megan is a metro editor covering health and environment. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she spends her free time drinking coffee and wishing she was Meg Ryan in a Nora Ephron movie.
