Local registered nurses ratify new contract

Registered nurses at Three Rivers Health-Beacon Health System have ratified a new contract that will help recruit and retain nurses and enable them to provide safe, quality care.

According to a media release from Michigan Nurses Association, nurses had been working under a contract that expired March 31 and voted Friday to approve the tentative agreement reached between them and the hospital.

Brandy Shoup, an emergency department nurse and president of the local union, said the new, three-year contract includes:

Wage increases of an average 12 percent the first year and three percent each of the next two years;
Higher shift differentials for afternoons and nights;
Phaseout of the practice of calling in nurses from home to work mandatory overtime; and
Improved Paid Time Off policies, especially for nurses with long tenure at the hospital.