St. Charles Hospital nurses approve contract with 20.5% wage increase

Nurses at St. Charles Hospital overwhelmingly approved their new contract, averting a potential strike, the nurses’ union said Wednesday.

The Port Jefferson hospital’s new contract with nearly 300 members of the New York State Nurses Association was ratified by the nurses Tuesday, with 97.4% voting in favor. The nurses voted by 99.6% to approve a strike last week, and they delivered a 10-day strike notice to the hospital on Friday.

The contract grants wage increases of 6%, 6% and 5% in each of the next three years, plus additional increases based on experience that bring the total average raise up to 20.5%, the union said.  It also includes nurse-to-patient ratios of 6 to 1 on medical/surgical units and 2 to 1 in critical care units, expedited arbitration of staffing disputes, increased retiree health benefits, education benefits and new holidays for Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The nurses at the 243-bed hospital “look forward to continuing to work with St. Charles Hospital for the health and wellbeing of our community,”  Rob Barone, 59, of Yaphank, a critical-care nurse and president of NYSNA’s executive committee at the hospital, said in a statement Wednesday.

Rockville Centre-based Catholic Health said in a statement Wednesday that the contract “ensures that our nurses continue to be supported with competitive salary increases and staffing improvements.  Our nurses are vital to ensuring the communities we serve have access to the highest levels of care, and we are grateful for their dedication to our patients.”

NYSNA is the state's largest nurses' union, with more than 42,000 members. At St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, nurses represented by NYSNA signed a new contract in April with pay increases of 6%, 6% and 5% over three years. It also represents nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, where the union's contract will expire July 31.

At Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, NYSNA members voted to approve a new contract in February that raised their salaries 19% over three years and expedited arbitration of staffing disputes, three days before a strike was set to begin. In January, nurses at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside voted to join NYSNA.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott covers health care and other business news on Long Island.