FORUM TALKS

FORUM TALKS
Other developments
Talks between Forum Health and its striking registered nurses union broke off after six hours Friday. The sides also met for 11 hours Thursday. No new sessions are scheduled.Forum spokeswoman Evonne Woloshyn said the company thinks the mandatory overtime issue has been resolved but nurses refuse to move on their economic demands. She said nurses have increased their first-year demand from 10 percent to 15 percent, an "unachievable level." The hospital is offering a wage, pension and benefit package worth more than 15 percent over three years, she said.Bonnie Lambert, president of the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, said the hospital has not addressed the mandatory overtime issue to the nurses' satisfaction. She said the financial proposals the union made are negotiable and are not demands. The nurses did add a proposal for a $2,000 retention payment for each nurse, she said, to encourage nurses to return instead of taking permanent jobs elsewhere. She noted that Forum is offering $3,000 sign-on bonuses to its new nurse recruits.