New contract for 8,500 city nurses
The city reached a deal Saturday with the union representing 8,500 registered nurses at municipal hospitals and city agencies.
Mayor de Blasio called the 45-month contract with the New York State Nurses Association a good deal for nurses and taxpayers alike.
“We’re paying a fair wage and addressing longstanding issues of recruitment and retention,” Hizzoner said in a press release. “These nurses [should] have the support they need to continue to provide excellent care to all New Yorkers.”
The pact is retroactive to last June and runs to March 2023. It includes raises in each year of the contract of 2%, 2.5%, 0.25% and 3%.
The contract lays a “foundation for a strong future,” said Anne Bové, a nurse at Bellevue Hospital and a union leader.
The union called the deal “a fantastic new contract … covering 9000 RNs & providing staffing protections for our patients.”
Nurses hailed the contract’s provisions for professional training and child care, which they called major breakthroughs.
Barbara Ann Turner, who has worked as a nurse for 36 years, said the number of patients never seems to go down.
“Nurses work hard, and we deserve what we‘re entitled to,” Turner said. “It‘s a new beginning.”
Union leaders say de Blasio and city negotiators treated them with respect. The union endorsed de Blasio in his 2017 reelection battle.
The deal was the second big contract of the year for nurses in the city.
A groundbreaking agreement with four major private hospitals in April called for the hiring of 1,450 new nurses, pay hikes and minimum ratios of nurses to patients.