Nurses Ratify Pact Granting 12.5% Raise

Nurses Ratify Pact Granting 12.5% Raise

By HOWARD MEGDAL

The New York State Nurses Association has overwhelmingly ratified a 59-month contract for the city's 6,400 Health and Hospital Corporation Registered Nurses that provides a 12.5-percent raise, the union announced May 23.

NANCY KALEDA: 'Didn't give in to city.' The contract runs from Jan. 1, 2003 to Nov. 30, 2007. RNs will receive a 3-percent retroactive increase as of March 16, 2004, and a 2-percent hike effective Jan. 1, 2005. A 3.28-percent increase July 1 and a 3.68-percent raise Oct. 1, 2006 will provide a compounded net increase of 12.5 percent.

'Big Victory'

Overall, the raise will lift the base salary for RNs from $54,691 to $61,527.

"The agreement is a big victory for city nurses," said Nancy Kaleda, senior associate director of NYSNA's collective-bargaining program, in a statement. "Despite pressure from the city during the past four years to fit into its bargaining 'pattern,' the nurses stood fast and did not give in." She noted that the contract did not contain reduced starting salaries or fewer vacation/sick days for RNs, a trade-off that other unions swallowed in exchange for larger wage hikes.

Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley said of the negotiations, "People put their mind to it. I believe the nurses worked very hard on it and so did we. There does come a time when things click."

He cited a mediation session several weeks ago as a turning point.

Ms. Kaleda had harsh words for the bargaining limitations under which NYSNA was forced to operate, saying that "this experience has also shown us how New York State's Taylor Law is being used to stall and delay contract negotiations in the public sector. We think it's time for reform." She pointed out that the RNs went more than three years working under an expired contract.