HEALTH CARE
Tufts Medical Center nurses approve a new contract
The unionized nurses of Tufts Medical Center have approved a new contract, officially ending a long labor dispute that included a contentious strike last summer. The Massachusetts Nurses Association did not disclose how many of its 1,200 members at Tufts participated in the vote, which ended Wednesday night, but said the results were “overwhelmingly’’ in favor. “We are very proud of all we have accomplished and how unified our members were in fighting for a fair contract that helps and protects both patients and nurses,’’ Barbara Tiller, a nurse who cochairs the union’s bargaining team, said in a statement after voting concluded Wednesday night. “We are looking forward to starting a new chapter for nursing at Tufts Medical Center.’’ Union and hospital leaders negotiated their new contract for 20 months. But they clashed on several issues, and last July, the nurses held a one-day walkout. Tufts locked out the striking nurses for an additional four days. They finally reached a tentative agreement on Dec. 18, at Boston City Hall, where they met at Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s invitation. “We are thrilled that our nurses have voted in favor of ratification,’’ Dr. Michael Wagner, chief executive of Tufts, said in a statement. “All of us are eager to close this challenging chapter and refocus 100 percent of our energy on working as one aligned team and continuing to deliver the outstanding patient care for which we are known.’’ The new contract will run for three years and nine months. All nurses will get a 6 percent pay increase over that time, and nurses at the top of the pay scale will get an additional 5 percent increase. (Most nurses, except those at the top of the scale, will continue to receive 5 percent annual step raises, which were not in dispute.) The union and the hospital also reached agreement on two issues that were previously in dispute, retirement benefits and staffing levels. The terms of the new contract went into effect immediately. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY
UTILITIES
Eversouce electricity customers to get break
Eversource electricity customers in Massachusetts are getting a break on their monthly bills thanks to the corporate tax cut passed last month by Congress. In November, state regulators approved a combined $37 million in rate increases for customers in the company’s eastern and western Massachusetts service areas. But since rates are based on the company’s costs, including federal taxes, Eversource said it will pass on almost $56 million in savings from the new tax bill to its 1.4 million customers in the state. “If taxes are reduced ultimately, costs are reduced and that benefits our customers,’’ Craig Hallstrom, Eversource’s president of Massachusetts electric operations, said in a statement on Wednesday. Attorney General Maura Healey last month asked the Department of Public Utilities to recalculate the Eversource price hikes to factor in the new 21 percent tax rate for corporations, a drop from 35 percent. Healey had opposed Eversource’s rate requests, which initially totaled almost $100 million. She wasn’t satisfied when the DPU approved the much lower increases. Eversource said that customers in Eastern Massachusetts will see a rate reduction of about $35.4 million, more than reversing the approved increase of $12.2 million. For Western Massachusetts, rates will increase $16.5 million instead of the approved $24.8 million. — GLOBE STAFF
REAL ESTATE
Cengage moving to the Seaport
Another big-name company is moving to the Seaport. Educational publishing firm Cengage said Thursday that it has signed a 10-year lease for a new corporate headquarters at an office building under construction on Pier 4. Cengage, which makes print and digital textbooks for higher education, moved its corporate headquarters in 2014 from Stamford, Conn., to Boston, where it has an office at Channel Center in Fort Point. Now it’s joining a string of blue-chip companies — software company PTC, drug makers Vertex and Alexion, law firm Goodwin — moving their corporate offices into the new towers sprouting in the Seaport District. Cengage will share the building at 200 Pier Four Boulevard with a new headquarters for Boston Consulting Group, which is moving there from two offices in downtown Boston. New York-based developer Tishman Speyer launched construction on the 13-story, 370,000-square-foot office building without any tenants signed, and now has commitments for nearly all the space, with an opening planned this fall. At 117,000 square feet, Cengage’s five-story office is a bit smaller than its space in Channel Center, but chief technology officer George Moore said he expects it will be a good fit for the company. — TIM LOGAN
INDUSTRY
GE drops requirement that barred non-union contractors from headquarters project
General Electric Co. has cleared the latest hurdle to its new headquarters development by agreeing to alter its labor plan for the project after a nonunion contractor complained it was improperly shut out of the high-profile job. GE recently dropped a requirement that contractors hired to work on the renovation of two older brick buildings in Fort Point abide by collective bargaining rules, a so-called project labor agreement that effectively bars nonunion companies from bidding for the work. GE’s reversal follows objections to the agreement by a large electrical contractor in Holliston, Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc. Griffin had complained last month to MassDevelopment, the public agency that owns the two former Necco Court buildings and is leasing them to GE. A 1999 Supreme Judicial Court decision limits the use of project labor agreements in public buildings to complex construction work, which Griffin said isn’t the case with the GE job. The next round of bidding is scheduled for Jan. 12, after being delayed while GE reviewed the legal issues that Griffin had raised. Winters said the work Griffin is targeting is valued at more than $3 million. He said the electrical firm has previously worked with the general contractor for the GE job, Consigli Construction. — JON CHESTO
HEALTH CARE
State watchdog to review Partners’ plan to acquire Mass. Eye and Ear
A state health care watchdog agency Wednesday asked Attorney General Maura Healey to review Partners HealthCare’s plan to acquire a specialty eye and ear hospital, saying the deal would raise medical costs substantially. The Health Policy Commission said Partners’ takeover of Massachusetts Eye and Ear would boost health spending by as much as $61 million a year — expenses that ultimately would be borne by consumers and businesses. The commission, whose board includes state officials and health policy experts, first issued its cost estimate in November. Partners and Mass. Eye and Ear then submitted a response, arguing that the agency overstated potential cost increases while underestimating Mass. Eye and Ear’s financial challenges. The commission was unswayed and stuck to its initial analysis. The Health Policy Commission studies hospital mergers but cannot block them. Commissioners on Wednesday voted to send their analysis to Healey as well as to officials at the state Department of Public Health, which is separately reviewing the transaction and has greater regulatory powers than the Health Policy Commission. Commission staff said that by law their report must be referred to Healey because it raises concerns about a deal involving a particularly large and high-priced health care provider. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY
