Nurse Contract Bumps Pay 7% Over 26 Months

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The New York State Nurses Association announced a tentative contract for 7,100 Registered Nurses at city hospitals that would give them a 7-percent raise over nearly 26 months.

If approved on Oct. 25 by Nurses who work for the Health and Hospitals Corporation, the deal would be their first on-time contract in more than 17 years. The pact would also lift the cap on the number of years of experience outside HHC that Nurses could apply to their salary level. Starting salaries would rise to about $66,000 as of July 2008 from the current $61,527.

'Should Help Recruiting'

"We were trying to look for ways to recruit Nurses and keep them," said NYSNA spokesman Mark A. Genovese. "The wage increase and the outside experience improvement will help with that."

Union officials were also pleased with the timing of the tentative agreement, after Nurses worked for more than three years under an expired pact during the last round of negotiations. The current contract expires Nov. 30.

The new deal would cover 25 months and 20 days, running from Dec. 1 through Jan. 20, 2010. The wage increases roughly mirror those obtained by the United Federation of Teachers in its contract. Senior Nurses would make about $90,000 if the deal was approved.

The cap on applying outside experience to pay scales would be lifted from the current five years to 10 years. Current Nurses could apply outside experience for up to 5 years retroactively.

Longevity Boost

Members would also see an addition to the longevity scales, with a new Step 22 in the amount of $1,000. The certification differential would rise from $500 to $1,378. In addition, HHC would increase its payment to the Welfare Fund by $100 per member and would add a one-shot payment of $166.67 per member on Apr. 1, 2008.

An ongoing issue for Nurses has been the use of mandatory overtime and staffing levels they consider insufficient for proper patient care. The current contract has language limiting shift rotations and floating, which would be maintained in the new deal. Those two practices are used to keep permanent staff levels in departments lower, since management can reassign Nurses when there is a serious shortage.

The union said the new deal has improved language on the implementation of patient classification systems, which can be used to develop improved staffing standards and patterns.

Eye on Curbing OT

NYSNA has been able to get limits and disincentives on mandatory overtime in some contracts with private health-care providers and hopes to move towards including those provisions in its public-sector deals. "It's a goal for the future," said Mr. Genovese. A bill limiting mandatory overtime that NYSNA lobbied for passed the State Assembly this year but did not make it through the Senate.

The contract also includes expanded Metrocard benefits, improved language on the use of the Professional Practice Committee to discuss recruitment, retention, and work issues and to give input in the selection of new equipment and technology.

If the agreement is ratified, it will take effect on Dec. 1, 2007.