NYC Public Hospital Nurses Win Historic Contract with Pay Parity and Safe Staffing
For Immediate Release: July 31, 2023
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
NYC Public Hospital Nurses Win Historic Contract with Pay Parity and Safe Staffing
Hard-fought Campaign for Equity Delivers Largest Salary Increase Ever for NYC Public Sector Nurses
On Eve of Deadline, Arbitrator Delivers Pay Parity Award to Increase Most Staff Nurse Salaries by Approximately 37 Percent or at least $32,000 Over Five-and-a-Half-Year Contract Period for all Full-Time Members
New York, NY—NYSNA nurses have won a new contract with NYC Health+Hospitals (H+H)/ mayoral agencies and the City of New York. The contract package includes an award for pay parity and safe staffing, several agreements to improve nurse retention, and the creation of a citywide nurse float pool to improve staffing and reduce the overreliance on temporary travel nurse contracts.
Highlights of the new contract include:
- Two years of pay parity wage increases, effective 7/31/23. The awarded payments of $16,006 in year one and $5,551 in year two bring public-sector salaries up to par with NYC private-sector nurse salaries.
- Salary increases of 3%, 3% and 3.25% in years 3, 4, and 5 of the contract that when combined with parity award total an increase of at least 37% over the life of the contract for all full-time members
- Improved staffing ratios, and new staffing ratios will be expanded beyond the 11 acute care hospitals into other RN settings.
- Improved staffing enforcement, including a new staffing subcommittee, and expanded pool of mediators to hear and resolve staffing disputes, and a fact-finding process if the parties fail to reach an agreement on mediation.
- A new system-wide float pool to improve staffing throughout the hospitals and reduce nurse floating and use of expensive temp travel nurses.
The five-and-a-half-year contract comes after a month of expedited mediation and then impasse arbitration. Now the package will be shared with NYSNA members and an endorsement vote will be held between now and Saturday.
NYSNA director at large and president of NYSNA’s NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council, Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, said: “Our members said that we needed pay equity to stop the hemorrhage of nurses leaving H+H for higher pay in the private sector, and the city was forced to agree. I am so proud to represent H+H nurses who passionately advocate for health equity for their patients. Soon we will have a great reason to stay in the public sector and continue caring for our communities.”
Alizia McMyers, RN, MSN, MHA, vice president of NYSNA’s NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council said: “Pay parity has been a goal of H+H nurses for as long as I have been a member, and I am so excited that this contract finally delivers it for our hard-working members. We said from the beginning that parity was essential to improve safe staffing and quality care for our patients and soon that will be a reality.”
Kristle Simms-Murphy, RN, FNP, secretary of NYSNA’s NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council said: “The public sector is a lifeline for New York City’s most vulnerable patients, who are mostly Black and Brown, immigrant and low-income New Yorkers. They deserve equitable, quality care and this contract can help deliver it."
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “When we fight, we win. NYSNA NYC public sector nurses have always been on the forefront of the fight for social justice and health equity for our patients, and they demonstrated throughout this contract campaign they were ready to do whatever it takes to win respect for nurses and patients. I could not be prouder to be part of righting a historic wrong and winning pay parity between public- and private-sector nurses.”
Approximately 8,000 NYSNA nurses at NYC Health+Hospitals facilities and Mayoral agencies had been in negotiations for a new contract since Feb. 14, 2023. Their contract expired on March 2, 2023. Throughout their campaign, they emphasized that pay equity was a matter of health equity and racial justice for public sector patients and the mostly women of color who work in the H+H/Mayorals health system. Joined by elected officials and community allies, nurses rallied, spoke out and staged sit-in protests to end the costly crisis of understaffing and high turnover and to win a fair contract. They exposed the outrageous nurse vacancy rate caused by low pay and the unacceptable cost of filling the gaps with expensive temp travel nurse contracts, which were estimated to cost $589.9 million in 2022. NYSNA nurses believe this new contract will help save and strengthen the city’s public health system.
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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.