NEW YORK NURSE: November/December 2011
by Mark Genovese
With NYSNA’s new Board of Directors taking office, the association’s direction has focused on completing contracts that have been open. As a result, there are several wins to report:
Registered nurses at this Valley Stream hospital reached a tentative agreement with management just hours before they were scheduled to conduct an informational picket on Nov. 8. The new three-year contract for the 250 RNs addresses issues of parity with other North Shore/LIJ facilities in regard to affordability of their health coverage and competitiveness in regard to their wage scale. It also provides additional payment for experience. The RNs will receive a 2% wage increase for this year, every experience step will increase by $1,700 in 2012, and RNs will receive a 2.5% increase plus an experience step increase of $5,000 in 2013.
A new, three year contract for the 12 RNs at this Capital Region home healthcare agency, approved Sept. 13, will provide across-the-board salary increases of 1%, 2%, and 3%, as well as scheduled movement along the step schedule. Also increasing will be the amount the agency will pay for family and two-person health insurance coverage. The contract contains no givebacks – as a result of the nurses’ unity, the agency backed away from its demands for concessions.
The 168 RNs at this North Shore/LIJ Health System facility will be included in the NYSNA Benefits Plan A, Option 1 – the best plan with lowest employee contribution allowable under arbitration award – under a new three-year contract approved on Oct. 13. The RNs also succeeded in retaining their current pension plan with no changes. Their wage package includes lump sums payments, across-the-board percentage increases, and no givebacks.
Up to nine months of health coverage will be paid by the employer for RNs at this Harrison behavioral health facility who become victims of workplace violence. RNs will also be able to receive additional payment if they are off work for more than eight weeks as the result of an assault by a violent patient. The new three-year contract, approved Nov. 11, will provide salary increases of 3%, 2.5%, and 2%; and a 4.03 savings plan with an employer match.