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Last Forum union signs concessionary contract
The next big step for Forum is to file a reorganization plan with the court by a Sept. 15 deadline.
YOUNGSTOWN — Northside Medical Center nurses Sunday ratified a new concessionary work agreement with Forum Health.
The Ohio Nurses Association/Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, which represents about 480 registered nurses, was the final unionized employee group to come to terms with the bankrupt hospital system.
On Friday, members of the Service Employees International Union District 1199 at Forum “overwhelmingly ratified” the concessions, according to Brandon Boswell, public affairs director for SEIU, which represents about 720 workers at Northside.
Eric Williams, YGDNA president, declined late Sunday night to release vote numbers and details of the contract, which he said is an amended version of the current contract that runs to July 19, 2011.
He said it provides slightly more than $4.4 million in concessions, and with previous concessions, nurses’ wages will have remained flat for about five years when the pact expires.
With the nurses’ vote, all nine of the hospital system’s unions at Northside, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland have agreed to concessionary collective bargaining agreements.
Forum officials have said previously that concessions from the unions and other employees were necessary for the company to emerge from bankruptcy.
Forum filed March 16 for protection during reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy code’s Chapter 11.
The nurses and the rest of Forum’s employees have done their part in the process. Now, Williams said, it is up to Forum Health’s management, the bankruptcy court and Forum’s lenders to do what is necessary to allow the hospital system to survive and thrive and continue to provide a choice for quality health care in the Mahoning Valley.
The next big step for Forum is to file a reorganization plan with the court by the Sept. 15 deadline.
The pieces are in place for Forum Health to do its work, Williams said.
alcorn@vindy.com