EAST LIVERPOOL Nurses reach tentative contract

The nurses walked out June 1 after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract offer.
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Nurses at East Liverpool City Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement Friday that could end their 13-day strike.
The East Liverpool Nurses Association's 176 members were to vote on the three-year offer at 1 p.m. today in their strike headquarters in the East Liverpool Knights of Columbus building not far from the hospital.
The two sides had been negotiating mandatory overtime, benefits and wages.
Michele Prater, director of public relations and marketing for the Ohio Nurses Association, said she could not discuss terms of the tentative contract.
"Both sides are equally satisfied with the results. It's a fair and equitable agreement," she said.
If the contract is accepted, nurses and laid-off employees will be recalled according to patient volume, she added.
About 400 additional employees, including dietary, maintenance and housekeeping, have been laid off or had hours reduced during the strike.
Ruth Mullins, a registered nurse and union spokeswoman, said earlier this month mandatory overtime was the main sticking point in negotiations, but the two sides were also "far apart" on health insurance issues and wages.
The nurses walked out June 1 after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract offer the day before. The Ohio Nurses Association wanted the hospital to stop requiring nurses to work overtime, the same issue that led to a walkout by nurses at Forum Health Northside Medical Center two years ago.