The contract will be negotiated by us, the nurses. We know our hospital, our units, our patients, and we know best what basic rules should be put into writing so that RGH administration can’t change them any time they want to. We will elect a bargaining committee to represent all nurses at the hospital. It will have nurses from all units, all shifts, to ensure that all nurses–full time, part time, pool–are represented fairly at the negotiating table. NENA staff who have experience with the negotiating process will help us, but we will be negotiating our contract. All nurses will be invited to attend negotiating sessions. The contract becomes final once it is ratified through a vote of the nurses at our hospital.
