Any likelihood of picket lines in front of Tuality Healthcare evaporated Thursday as its registered nurses voted to accept a new contract. The balloting ended negotiations that began Oct. 22, 2006. Teams representing Tuality’s management and the Oregon Nurses Association had opened bargaining sessions in anticipation of the Jan. 1 expiration of the prior two-year contract. The newly approved contract will apply retroactively to that date. According to an ONA-supplied summary, details of the new contract include 4 percent wage increases on Jan. 1 of each of the contract’s three years, a 1.35 percent increase in the starting rate (to $27.44) and a new wage step for nurses with 27 years of service. The contract guarantees health insurance coverage “will not get worse” and the hospital will pay at least 80 percent of the cost to cover full-time nurses’ dependents. Also, nurses will receive increases in hourly rates for special service categories and shifts.

The agreement does not cover nurses at Tuality’s Forest Grove facility, which has no ONA-member nurses, said Brian Costa, Tuality’s community relations director. Read more