Nurses at Brooklyn Hospital Approve Contract

Agreement avoids possibility of nurses’ strike

BROOKLYN, September 14, 2011 – The resolve of the 500 registered nurses at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in demanding a fair contract has paid off. The nurses Tuesday ratified an agreement with hospital management that acknowledges the hospital’s distressed financial situation, but also provides nurses with the ability to support their families and maintain their quality of life.

The agreement ends the possibility of a strike by the nurses and was reached just days after the New York State Nurses Association, which represents the nurses at Brooklyn Hospital Center, presented the hospital with a strike notice.

The three-year contract, which runs from 9/13/11 to 9/12/14, includes a two percent across-the-board salary increase in July 2012, a $500 lump sum bonus in April 2013 and a three percent across-the-board salary increase in January 2014.

The nurses’ primary issues during negotiations were their health insurance benefits and pension. Nurses will contribute to their health insurance premiums, but in January 2014 will be upgraded into the NYSNA Benefit Fund’s top-tier plan. The contract maintains the current pension plan, freezing the nurses’ progression of seniority “steps” during the life of the contract, but at the expiration of the contract the nurses will be granted an increase of one step and resume their normal step progression.

“Thanks to the nurses’ willingness to stand up for themselves, we were able to negotiate a fair contract,” said Roberta Murphy, MS, RN, associate director of the New York State Nurses Association’s Economic and General Welfare program. “We are pleased to have averted the possibility of a strike and to be able to return fully to the business of caring for our patients.”

The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is New York’s largest professional association and union for registered nurses.The association represents registered nurses, and some all-professional bargaining units, in New York and New Jersey. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.

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