By Alexander Dworkowitz
After nearly 10 months without a contract, the nurses of Flushing Hospital Medical Center have reached a tentative agreement with their employer for higher salaries and benefits.
Both the hospital administration and the New York State Nurses Association, the union representing workers at the facility, agreed to a contract after a 15-hour discussion on Oct. 23.
The 400 registered nurses at Flushing Hospital were scheduled to vote on the proposal after press time on Wednesday.
Both sides of the negotiations said they were pleased with the results of the sessions.
“It appears to be a very good agreement in that it does appear to address the major concerns of the nurses regarding staffing … and regarding maintaining the hospital’s competitiveness in the recruitment and retention of nurses,” said Mark Genovese, a spokesman for the NYSNA.
Max Sclair, the vice president of human resources at Jamaica Hospital Center, which owns and runs Flushing Hospital, sounded a similar sentiment.
“It’s a good deal for everybody all around,” he said. “We’re happy we’re concluding the discussion.”
The contract calls for a 13.5 percent increase in the starting wages, Sclair said.
Currently, the starting wage at Flushing Hospital for all nurses is $50,800.
The three-year deal raises the starting salary to $54,000 for nurses without a bachelor’s degree for the current year, Sclair said. The salary will increase $2,000 the following two years, and nurses with bachelor’s degrees will make an additional $1,000 a year, Sclair said.
Nurses will also get a 12 percent increase in pension contributions and benefits, Sclair said.
The nurses union could not confirm the details of the contract until after it was ratified, Genovese said.
If the nurses vote to ratify the agreement as the hospital expects them to, it will end months of long negotiations between the two sides.
Nurses twice rallied outside the hospital during the summer. They contended that their wages were out of scale with the starting salaries of other hospitals, which a negotiator for the nurses said averaged at about $54,000.
After a June rally failed to bring an agreement, nurses began to talk of a strike, which officials said would have shut down the institution. A strike vote never came to the table, however.
Nurses contended their low wages came as a result of the hospital’s financial difficulties.
Jamaica Hospital took over Flushing Hospital in 1999, a year after the institution went bankrupt. The following year, Flushing Hospital emerged from bankruptcy.
During that period, the hospital was short on staff and wages were frozen, nurses said.
But with better financial standing and a tentative deal, all parties expressed relief.
“We’re happy it’s behind us,” Sclair said. “We need our nurses. They’re good nurses.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 141.
