St. Charles Hospital nurses authorize strike as contract talks continue

Nurses at St. Charles Hospital have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike, the union announced Friday afternoon, although both sides said negotiations continue and that they hope to avoid a walkout.

Union leaders said nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are the main issue, as was the case three years ago, when a strike at the Port Jefferson hospital was narrowly averted.

Nurses also are seeking pay increases that they say will keep up with inflation and with pay hikes nurses elsewhere are receiving, but neither the union nor Catholic Health — which operates St. Charles and five other Long Island hospitals — disclosed what each side is proposing.

Tracy Kosciuk, a postpartum registered nurse at St. Charles and secretary of the New York State Nurses Association’s executive committee at the hospital, said the 99.7% strike authorization approval reflects nurses’ frustration with the hospital regularly exceeding nurse-to-patient ratios, and with nurses having to frequently scramble to treat more patients than the safety ratios require.

"Our nurses are tired, our nurses are beaten down," said Kosciuk, adding that lower ratios "make sure that our patients receive the best possible care they can."

Catholic Health asserted that it follows staffing guidelines.

"Contrary to the union’s claims, patient safety and quality care have not been — and will not be — compromised," Catholic Health spokesperson Lisa Greiner said in a statement. "St. Charles is a safe, high-quality hospital."

She pointed to the hospital’s A rating — the highest possible — from Leapfrog, the nonprofit that monitors hospital safety.

"Conversations with NYSNA have been positive and constructive, and St. Charles continues to negotiate in good faith," Greiner said. "We remain confident that an agreement can be reached that supports both our nurses and patients."

A 2023 state law requires one nurse for every two critical or intensive care patients, and the union contract signed in 2023 requires a ratio of one nurse for every six patients in other units.

The union, insisting the hospital is not abiding by those ratios, is seeking contract language that imposes financial penalties if those numbers are not met, along with a faster process — including getting cases in front of an arbitrator as soon as possible — to address violations, Kosciuk said.

Rob Barone, an intensive care nurse, recalled how last weekend, there were only three nurses at one point caring for nine intensive care patients, despite the state staffing mandate, in addition to a nurse giving 1:1 care to an extremely critical patient. 

"This is a regular occurrence," said Barone, the union executive committee president and a nurse at St. Charles for 28 years.

The union shared with Newsday a 2024 state Department of Health document that found the hospital was "not in compliance" with a long list of items, including staffing levels and ratios that were agreed upon in the 2023 contract.

Although the union said the staffing problems continue, Greiner said the health department accepted the hospital’s "corrective action plan" and that "the matter is resolved."

The current contract expired March 31. The new one would run through March 31, 2029.

In 2023, union members also authorized a strike, but the two sides reached an agreement in June of that year.

More than 300 registered nurses are represented by the union, Barone said. 

Although wages are an issue, "I believe we will settle with our employer on numbers that we are happy with," Barone said. "It is about the staffing."

Greiner said in the statement that "St. Charles values its nurses and has made significant financial investments in them, including competitive pay, comprehensive health benefits, a defined benefit pension plan and wage increases above typical annual adjustments during recent inflationary periods."

Catholic Health declined to disclose the range of nurses’ salaries, and union officials said they did not have them immediately available Friday afternoon.

Negotiations also continue at two other Catholic Health hospitals, union officials said: St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage, where a contract expired March 31, and St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, where a contract is set to expire July 31.

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

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.