FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Saturday, March 30, 2024
Contact: Eliza Bates | press@nysna.org| 646-285-8491
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
STRIKE AVERTED AS STATEN ISLAND UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL/ NORTHWELL NURSES REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
Tentative Agreement Comes After All-Night Bargaining Session, Contract Highlights Include Safe Staffing Improvements, Major Wage Gains
NYSNA Members to Vote on Tentative Agreement April 3-5
Staten Island, N.Y.— New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH)/Northwell reached a tentative contract agreement early Saturday morning after bargaining through the night, averting a looming April 2 strike.
The tentative agreement includes improvements to safe staffing standards and stronger safe staffing enforcement. The agreement adds nurse staffing on units that need help and includes an expedited process for creating staffing standards in new units.
The wage increases that nurses won bring SIUH nurse pay up on par with other New York City private sector nurse wages. Over the three-year life of the contract, wage increases total 22.12% and include annual pay increases, market adjustment pay, and experience pay.
More details about the agreement will be released pending ratification. Members will begin voting on whether to ratify the contract on Wednesday, April 3.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “Staten Island nurses and patients deserve the same high standards as the rest of New York City. Congratulations to SIUH NYSNA nurses for their fierce patient advocacy.”
SIUH/Northwell nurse and NYSNA bargaining committee member Elaine Minew, RN, said, “The safe staffing improvements we won in our tentative agreement make Staten Island a better place to live, work, and receive care. Our goal is always to make sure that we have enough nurses at the bedside to provide safe patient care, and our tentative agreement helps us do exactly that by guaranteeing better staffing and more nurses hired where we need them the most.”
SIUH/Northwell nurse and NYSNA bargaining committee member John Vuolo, RN, said, “For too long, Staten Island University Hospital nurses have struggled to stay on our island because our pay was so much lower than what we could make for doing the same work in Brooklyn or Manhattan. Now that we’ve won pay parity, we can afford to stay here in our community where we want to be, caring for our neighbors. That’s a victory for all of Staten Island.”
Last week, SIUH/Northwell nurses won the support of 26 major labor unions, who signed a joint solidarity letter. The letter signers, which included the Communications Workers of America, 32BJ SEIU, DC 37 and Teamsters Local 804 called on Northwell to settle a fair contract with nurses and to protect care for Staten Island.
On March 13, nurses held a speak-out in front of the hospital and announced that they had voted in favor of authorizing a strike by over 97 percent. The strike authorization vote came on the heels of overwhelming strike votes at other NYSNA-represented facilities, including most recently Northwell Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, Peconic Bay Medical Center, and South Shore University Hospital on Long Island. Those Northwell hospitals settled fair contracts with NYSNA nurses and averted strikes. Approximately 1,300 registered nurses work at SIUH/Northwell.
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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.
