Overdue economic gains and family-friendly work schedules go a long way toward addressing the chronic recruitment and retention challenges facing many employers in this post-pandemic era. That was the argument the “founding mothers” of an AFT Connecticut-affiliated healthcare union made in their recently concluded negotiations for a successor contract. Our latest collective bargaining wins report features a victory they secured not just for themselves but for the next generation of caregivers.
Leaders of our Fairfield Public Nurses union went into the latest round of negotiations with the goal of correcting years of economic injustice driving dedicated caregivers from the profession. To do that, they knew it would take more than the patchwork approach of minimal wage increases taken in previous cycles.
“Our previous contracts were like an old house that needed gutting,” said Guylaine Kinney, RN (second from left, in photo, above), who serves as president of the local union. “This cycle was all about rebuilding from the ground up to the rafters, from our wages to our benefits to our hours worked.”
Kinney and her fellow negotiating committee members began negotiations with town officials in late 2023. Nearly a year later, they reached a mutual settlement agreement on a four-year contract that includes pocketbook gains that have already inspired other affiliated local school nurse unions’ negotiations.
“We corrected the injustice of many, many years of being underpaid for the work we do,” said Maribeth Allison, RN (right, in photo), who also served on the union’s bargaining team. “We made fixing the (wage scale) grid to fix that and align with other school nurse unions,” she added.
The restructured pay scale, combined with annual increases in the final three years of the successor agreement, will yield boosts of up to 10 dollars per hour. Additionally, stipends of up to 500 dollars will reward members for career enhancement when they obtain public health nursing certification.
The team also achieved a reduced schedule for nurses without any loss in pay, further amplifying the new contract’s fiscal value. The change, which allows for opting out of up to two days during summer, promises to help members improve work-life balance.
The tentative agreement was ratified by an overwhelming majority of the local union’s membership in early December and approved by the town’s representative town meeting (RTM) the following week.
Click here for our social media announcement celebrating the new contract.
“I cannot express how relieved we are that members of the RTM approved our union’s agreement. It demonstrates a recognition of the need for more competitive wages in order to recruit and retain the skilled public health nurses our students and residents depend on,” added Kinney.
“We’re thrilled that as the ‘founding mothers’ of our union we were able to raise the level of professionalism of school nurses. Increasing public awareness of the importance of the speciality that our role has grown to be is really a win for nurses across the state and the country,” added Allison.
Click here for press reporting on town officials’ final adoption of our local union’s agreement.
Since our previous report last October, nine additional collective bargaining wins and a state labor board decision were announced. At press time, an arbitration decision and four additional settled local union contracts that had not yet been publicized were tentatively planned for inclusion in the next quarterly update.
Click here for the graphic announcing our Meriden Federation of Family-School Liaisons’ recently approved new agreement.
Click here for a social media post publicizing our Wethersfield Federation of Teachers’ latest contract win.
Click here for a graphic featuring our Middletown Federation of Teachers’ bargaining team celebrating their new agreement.
Click here for our Bristol Federation of Teachers’ declaration of victory in securing a new contract.
Click here for the announcement of our New Britain Federation of Teachers’ successor agreement’s final passage.
Click here for photographs of our Western CT United Professionals members ratifying their new contract.
Click here for our Hartford Federation of Teachers’ recent tentative agreement
Click here for a graphic celebrating our Windham Federation of School Nurses’ new contract.
Click here for our Salem Federation of Teachers’ latest legal win at the state labor board.
