Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Butler Hospital's unionized staff today ratified a new three-year contract that includes annual pay raises and limits the use of "travel" nurses, whose use is a nettlesome factor for the psychiatric center's employees.

Members of the union representing nearly 300 nurses, mental-health workers and other employees had voted earlier in the week to strike if their contract demands were not met. The members of District 1199, the New England Health Care Employees Union/SEIU picketed the hospital earlier in the week to call attention to the contract issues that remained unresolved to that point. The nurses had been working under an extension of a three-year contract since March 31.

But just before midnight Wednesday, union negotiators reached an agreement with management that will keep staff members working. Staff members voted throughout the day today, ultimately approving a new three-year contract, according to a hospital statement.

The new contract includes annual pay raises of 4 percent, 4.25 percent and 4 percent, respectively, limits the use of contracted staff ans excludes mental-health workers from having to work mandatory overtime. The new contract maintains the union members' current health-care coverage.

Hospital management says the use of travel nurses, who work on contracts through temporary staffing agencies, is rare but necessary.

The 117-bed private pyschiatric and substance abuse treatment facility has used travel nurses in the past, according to a hospital spokeswoman. About 2 percent of the nursing shifts are filled by the temporary workers.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Grimaldi

The lenders who financed the purchase and renovations at the Twin River slot parlor gave the Lincoln facility's owners more time to rework their finances.

The lenders have been pressuring Twin River's owner, UTGR Inc., since the company missed a loan payment early last month. The two sides have been negotiating for weeks under a standstill agreement that delayed legal action to collect payment on $577 million in outstanding loans tied to Twin River's operation.

The standstill pact, known as forbearance agreement, was extended twice while negotiations continued. It's now been extended a third time, unil June 30, with options for two additional 30-day extensions.

In effect, Twin River has until Aug. 29 to work out a "permanent financing structure" that would satisfy the lenders, according to Patti Doyle, a spokeswoman for the slot parlor. It also has more time now "to establish a payment schedule with our other creditors, chiefly Dimeo Construction Co.

Dimeo was the primary contractor on the slot parlor's $225-million reconstruction project. The Providence contractor recently placed liens on the property seeking $6 million for some of that work. Other contractors followed Dimeo's lead, filing liens for more than $1 million in all.

The slot parlor’s inability to make the loan payment last month triggered two ratings downgrades on UTGR by Standard & Poor’s, which now rates the company's corporate debt as CCC-.

The company that owns the Twin River gambling facility in Lincoln got another week from its lenders to work out its financial problems, but that wasn't enough to prevent its credit rating from being downgraded for the second time this month.

UTGR Inc., which owns Twin River, missed a loan payment earlier this month, prompting negotiations with its lenders and collection efforts by contractors that worked on the building’s $225-million reconstruction.

UTGR and its lenders entered into a pact, known as a forbearance agreement, which allows the company to work out payment plans with its lenders and creditors. That agreement was set to expire today. The two sides agreed to extend the pact for a week, according to Twin River spokeswoman Patty Doyle.

"Credit ratings by their very nature are very conservative," Doyle said. "We've made tremendous progress with our lenders this week. We're quite hopeful we will reach a long-term agreement with [them]."

The missed payment had already triggered one ratings downgrade on UTGR Inc. by the Standard & Poor’s Corp. ratings unit, The Providence Journal reported. On March 4, S&P lowered UTGR's rating to B- from B+, and placed the ratings on its "CreditWatch" list with negative implications.

S&P went further today, lowering UTGR's rating to CCC-, or "junk" status.

"The downgrade reflects our ongoing concerns about a potential bankruptcy filing as the company reportedly continues to negotiate a forbearance agreement with its lenders. While we believe that incentives exist for the company and its lenders to reach an extended agreement, the new ratings better reflect the near-term risk factors for a potential bankruptcy filing if the parties are not able to come to an agreement."

The facility, which includes video slots, a dog-racing track and restaurant and entertainment offerings, is operating normally at this point.

Beyond serving its customers, Twin Rivers contributes to gambling revenues in the state's budget, and revenues have been up this year.

Altogether, the state expects to take in about $243 million from Twin River’s video slot machines for the year that will end June 30, and about $256 million for the year that will start July 1.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Grimaldi