Newark Nurses, Hospital Avoid Strike; Deal Includes ‘Safe Staffing’

NEWARK, NJ — Nurses at one of the busiest hospitals in the state have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, their union announced Wednesday.

According to the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) Local 5089, which represents nurses at University Hospital in Newark, its members have reached a tentative three-year agreement with administrators.

HPAE spokespeople said the deal includes “enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios” and a “new wage scale and benefit standards,” but declined to elaborate on the specific details until the agreement has been ratified.

HPAE Local 5089 President Banita Herndon said she is hopeful the new contract will help ease staffing shortages at University Hospital, which is owned by the state of New Jersey and is the state’s only public hospital.

“This agreement will give us the ability to provide safer care for our patients, help to recruit and retain staff and further elevate University Hospital as the premier medical facility that it is,” Herndon said.

The union is scheduled to vote on the proposed deal on Friday.

The possibility of a work stoppage had been floated during recent weeks as negotiations dragged on. In addition to pay raises, the nurses said they wanted “safer staffing” ratios at the hospital, with the union calling for a 5-to-1 split.

“No member ever wants to go on strike, but we will do whatever it takes to bargain a contract that provides the best language to recruit and retain staff,” HPAE president Debbie White recently said.

Hospital administrators have maintained that the medical center “remains not only in compliance with all state regulations regarding nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, but consistently exceeds those requirements.” University Hospital has also made “tremendous strides” in reducing its nurse vacancy rate, hiring more than 170 staff nurses over the past year and reducing its vacancy rate to “single digits,” administrators said.

The fight over nurse-to-patient ratios has also been taking place at other New Jersey hospitals, where the issue has become a major bargaining point during contract talks.

• See Related: Nurses Reach Tentative Deal With Cooper Hospital, But Strike Still Possible
• See Related: Nurses' Union Gives Update On Negotiations At 2 NJ Hospitals
• See Related: Tentative Deal Reached In Nurses' Strike At RWJ University Hospital

OTHER NEGOTIATIONS

In the meanwhile, another branch of the HPAE continues to hammer out a deal with the hospital.

HPAE Local 5094, which represents the hospital’s professional employees at the hospital, said its bargaining committee will return to the table next week. Like the nurses, their contract also expired on Sept. 30.

HPAE Local 5094 members include social workers, laboratory workers, IT workers and clinical staff. Their demands include “better wages, new benefits and improved contract language for existing benefits,” union spokespeople said.

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