Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN) members overwhelmingly approved a new 15-month agreement on April 30. The new agreement only modifies a few contractual terms. “With the economy still climbing out of recession, we believed limiting our scope of bargaining to a few topics, like fair wage increases and a relatively short agreement duration, was the right thing to do,” says SPNN President Chris McGovern, RN. “Our plan is to readdress the contract late next year when we anticipate the economy will be doing better.”

The agreement provides wage increases on October 1, 2010 and on each nurse’s anniversary date, and requires Sharp to give advance notice of a unit/service closure. The new agreement runs from July 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011.