NYSNA Nurses at Samaritan Medical Center, Carthage Area Hospital, and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center Ratify New Four-Year Contracts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026
Contact: Joe Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
NYSNA NURSES AT SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER, CARTHAGE AREA HOSPITAL, AND CLAXTON-HEPBURN MEDICAL CENTER RATIFY NEW FOUR-YEAR CONTRACTS
NYSNA nurses at Samaritan Medical Center, Carthage Area Hospital, and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center voted to ratify new contracts that defend patient care in the North Country
NYSNA nurses at four other North Country hospitals continue bargaining for fair contracts
Watertown, N.Y.— Last week, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Samaritan Medical Center, Carthage Area Hospital, and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center voted overwhelmingly to ratify new four-year contracts. Highlights of the contracts include:
- Improved health and pension benefits.
- Improved safe staffing language to protect patient care.
- Safeguards against artificial intelligence.
- Protections from workplace violence.
- Wage increases to recruit and retain enough nurses to provide safe, quality care.
Nurses at Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center won entry into the NYSNA Benefit Fund for the first time, which will provide health benefits to nurses and their families at a greatly reduced cost, beginning on July 1, 2026.
After months of negotiations, nurses were able to achieve contracts that protect patient care for their communities in the North Country, where decades of service reductions and hospital consolidations have led to a decline in access to safe, quality patient care.
Though these contracts are a victory for the nurses and residents of Watertown, Carthage, and Ogdensburg, and beyond, there is yet more work to be done. NYSNA members at four other North Country hospitals—Adirondack Medical Center, UVM-Alice Hyde Medical Center, UVM-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, and UVM-Elizabethtown Community Hospital—continue to bargain for fair contracts to protect patient care in their communities.
Ciera Talbot, RN, NYSNA member at Samaritan Medical Center, said, “Samaritan nurses are proud of what we were able to achieve during this contract campaign—for ourselves and for the people in our community who depend on us for care. Maintaining our health and pension benefits and securing protections against workplace violence were key victories in this contract. Nurses, like all workers, should be able to come to work knowing that there are measures in place to keep us safe. Every hospital should be a place of safety and healing, for nurses and patients alike.”
Jessica Thornton, RN, NYSNA member at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, said, “We’re glad to have settled such a strong contract, but we recognize the fight continues. For too long, North Country communities and hospitals have been under resourced, and we see the impact that has on our patients every day. Now that we’ve settled a fair contract for nurses, we can continue to do what we do best: advocate for our patients. That begins with fighting to make sure every North Country resident has access to the safe, quality patient care they deserve.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, “For months, NYSNA nurses in the North Country have been fighting for fair contracts that will improve access to care for patients in rural parts of New York state. Together, they were able to secure contracts that address their communities' greatest needs. These three, strong contracts will be a steppingstone to addressing the needs of the entire North Country and making sure that every North Country resident has access to the healthcare services they need.”
NYSNA nurses and healthcare professionals at Adirondack Medical Center, UVM-Alice Hyde Medical Center, UVM-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, and UVM-Elizabethtown Community Hospital remain in active bargaining in the North Country. Across all seven hospitals, including Samaritan, Carthage, and Claxton-Hepburn, NYSNA members are united for safe, quality care for all North Country patients.
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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.