Contact: David Perlove, Labor Representative
Michigan Nurses Association
906/226-7053
dave.perlove@minurses.org

June 16, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OSF St. Francis Hospital and Michigan Nurses Association reach new labor agreement

ESCANABA – OSF St. Francis Hospital and the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) announced today that they have reached a new three-year labor agreement. A tentative agreement was achieved on June 12, and the registered nurses at OSF St. Francis Hospital voted to ratify the agreement on June 16.

Representatives for both the Hospital and the MNA said they are pleased with the results.

“We are pleased with the contract and with the fact that we were able to negotiate an agreement that is mutually beneficial,” said Wayne Seibert, Assistant Administrator of Human Resources at OSF.

Dave Perlove, MNA Labor Representative, stated “The RNs are especially pleased that the parties were able to reach an agreement that both recognizes seniority and maintains a high quality of nursing care”.

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The Michigan Nurses Association, nurses' voice for 100 years, is the largest nurses' union in the State of Michigan . The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) promotes the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, fosters high standards of nursing practice, and lobbies the legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and recipients of nursing services. MNA is a constituent member of the American Nurses Association and the United American Nurses, as well as an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.