A strike by Cleveland Clinic Akron General nurses has been averted after the Professional Staff Nurses Association (PSNA) reached a tentative contract agreement Monday with the hospital.þþThe union will vote on the contract March 11, according to a March 4 post on the union website.þþNurses represented by the union voted during a meeting Feb. 15 to allow their negotiating team to issue a strike notice to the hospital; however, they never issued the notice.þþPSNA also withdrew its 10-day notice for an informational picket, which was previously scheduled for March 6-8. The picket would not have been a strike, as the union urged its members to keep working their schedules.þþÿWe have come to a tentative agreement with the hospital,ÿ the website post said. ÿWe truly believe this is the best contract we could get at this time. This was definitely a hard, long, exhausting fight. We feel that we got some good language in this agreement that we can build upon in future contracts. It is very important that we continue to grow and stand in solidarity moving forward so that we are ready for an even stronger fight in the next contract.ÿþþMichelle Day, spokesperson for the Ohio Nurses Association, which represents PSNA, said a formal statement will be issued.þþþThe nurses union's contract expired last week.þþThe union was bargaining for lower nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, with the aim of increasing patient safety.þþUnion nurses also said they wanted to be paid the same amount as nurses at other facilities in the Cleveland Clinic network.þþAdditionally, negotiations included a discussion of matched retirement savings amounts. The hospital was seeking to decrease matched savings from 5% to 3%, while the union sought to increase them to 7%, the Beacon Journal previously reported.þþBargaining also included talks about paid time off.þþPSNA represents more than 800 nurses at the hospital.
Source: beaconjournal.com
