Nurses At Uptown Hospitals Ratify 4-Year Contract, Avoid Strike

NEW YORK, NY — Nurses at two Upper Manhattan hospitals and one Bronx hospital voted to ratify a new four-year contract this week, ending a contract dispute that was highlighted by a threat to strike.

More than 10,000 nurses working at Montefiore, NewYork-Presbyterian and St. Luke's hospital agreed to the terms of a new four-year contract with the hospitals, the New York State Nurses Association announced. The contract requires hospital executives to hire more than 1,450 new nurses, which meets the demand of nurses for safer staff to patient ratios, union representatives announced.

"Everyone in these negotiations recognized that there are not enough nurses to safely care for our patients. With this contract, we've come a long way to resolving the critical under-staffing at the three hospital systems. That's been our priority throughout," Anthony Ciampa, a nurse first vice president for New York State Nursing Association members at NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement.

Hospitals agreed to invest more than $100 million in safer staffing rations by hiring more than 1,450 nurses to fill vacancies and newly-created, full-time nursing positions at the hospitals, which are located in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

The agreement also calls for 3 percent wage increases across the board for each year of the new contract and millions of dollars allocated to retirement benefits, tuition reimbursement and other benefits, union representatives said.

The deal comes after nurses at the three hospital systems threatened to strike in March due to more than 30 fruitless negotiation sessions with hospital executives. Following the threat, union negotiators and hospital executives made a breakthrough, causing the union to postpone its April 2 strike date.