Nurses at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson ratify contract
The New York State Nurses Association withdrew a July 13 strike notice at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson. Credit: Thomas Hengge
Nurses at St. Charles Hospital on Friday ratified a new 3-year contract, three days before they had threatened to go on strike.
The 91% approval for the contract, which the New York State Nurses Association announced Friday night, came a day after the union and Catholic Health, which owns the 253-bed Port Jefferson hospital, announced a tentative agreement.
The overwhelming margin "indicates we had strong support from our membership,” said Rob Barone, president of the union's St. Charles bargaining unit. "Our members are very, very happy that this contract was ratified. This was a victory for our nurses and patient safety.”
The agreement, which runs through March 2029, includes more robust staffing of patient beds, which was the union’s top goal, he said.
Nurses last month voted by a 99.7% majority to authorize a strike, which was later set for Monday. The strike notice was withdrawn with the tentative agreement.
“We believe this agreement is fair to both parties and positions us well for the future,” Catholic Health spokeswoman Lisa Greiner said in a statement Friday night.
Greiner said the contract “reflects our shared commitment to investing in our nurses, supporting the exceptional care they provide, and continuing to deliver excellent patient care.”
The new staffing provisions include stronger enforcement of existing nurse-to-patient ratios, which the union said were regularly violated — something the hospital denied — and the hiring of new nurses, said Barone, an intensive care nurse
The contract includes annual wage increases resulting in a 15% pay raise for the average nurse over the life of the contract. That includes annual increases of 4%, 3% and 4%, plus additional pay hikes, such as those tied to each year of a nurse’s experience.
Annual salaries during the last year of the contract will range from about $119,000 to $164,000.
David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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