A month after agreeing to a new three-year contract with UMass Memorial Health Care, the registered nurses at Marlborough Hospital voted to ratify the contract Monday.

The two sides agreed to the terms of the new three-year contract in late August after 10 months of negotiations.

“I’m happy to report that my colleagues support the agreement our bargaining committee reached last month with hospital management,” said Julie Lyver, a registered nurse and chairwoman of the Massachusetts Nurses Association/Marlborough Hospital Bargaining Unit. “Now we turn our attention to tackling the staffing concerns Marlborough nurses have raised and continue to raise.”

As part of the new deal, a staffing committee will be created to review and issue recommendations to hospital management concerning staffing issues. Last spring, 85 percent of the hospital’s nurses signed a petition criticizing what they described as inadequate staffing, the restructuring of the emergency department and other misguided policies they say resulted in unsafe conditions.

The staffing dispute came after cuts at the hospital and across the UMass Memorial Health Care system, the parent health care company that owns Marlborough Hospital. Last year, nurses at the hospital said the cuts burdened them with heavy workloads and forced them to juggle more patients than ever.

Along with the creation of a new staffing committee, the contract calls for a 4.5 percent pay increase for the nurses over the life of the contract, according to a press release from the MNA.

Steve Roach, president and CEO of Marlborough Hospital, said last month he was pleased the sides were able to come to an amicable agreement.

The MNA represents 198 nurses at Marlborough Hospital, according to the organization.

The new three-year contract expires Nov. 14, 2017.

 Original post: http://marlborough.wickedlocal.com/article/20150923/NEWS/150927980