Nurses' Strike Averted At Jersey Shore University Medical Center

NEPTUNE, NJ — A threatened nurses' strike at Jersey Shore University Medical Center — the largest trauma center on the Jersey Shore — was averted in the eleventh hour Thursday, as the nurses and hospital administration reached a new contract.

The more than 1,700 unionized nurses at Jersey Shore struck a deal with Hackensack Meridian Health on a new contract that includes what the nurses say are safe staffing ratios, a pay raise and enhanced measures that will reduce violence against nurses in the workplace.

The nurses at Jersey Shore took a majority vote Sept. 2 to go on strike. Their contract expired Sept. 8, but the nurses were required by law to give a 10-day notice before they went on strike. So the strike would have started Friday morning.

The two key demands the nurses asked for was for lower nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, and they asked the hospital to adopt health and safety language that address issues in the workplace, including violence against front-line nurses and doctors.

The vote to authorize the strike was near unanimous: 1,411 of the 1,700 nurses voted "yes" to go on strike and 65 voted not to strike, according to the nurses' union.

The nurses' union is Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), New Jersey’s largest healthcare union. The union said it could not reveal specifics of their contract until after it was voted on; they will vote on the contract Friday.

Details of the new contract will be available after that vote.

“This contract is historic, and nurses stood united to gain safe staffing ratios and violence prevention standards so they can safely provide care for our patients,” said HPAE Local 5058 President Dan Hayes, RN. “The safe staffing ratios set in this contract will now give patients the option of choosing a hospital with safe staffing in Monmouth County. Nurses refused to settle for anything less."

Earlier this month: Nurses At Jersey Shore University Medical Center Vote To Go On Strike (Sept. 2)