For Immediate Release:

NYPNU Members Affirm High-Quality Patient Care Through Safe Staffing Levels

(New York, NY) - New York Professional Nurses Union members voted to ratify a new contract agreement with Lenox Hill Hospital and Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital averting a strike scheduled for 7:00am on November 1^st. A tentative agreement was reached in the early morning hours on Friday.

“The contract reflects the nurses’ determination to protect our patients with safe nurse/patient ratios, which will save lives,” said NYPNU President Maureen McCarthy.

NYPNU members approved the contract by a 98% margin with one of the highest voter turnouts in the union’s history. Talks with hospital officials over updating the collective bargaining agreement took place throughout most of September and October.

The agreement addresses the most pressing concerns about staffing levels, nurses’ health insurance, pension and mandatory overtime. Those issues are central to the ability of the hospital to keep its current professional nurses at the bedside and recruit new nurses, McCarthy noted.

The three-year agreement provides:

• No mandatory overtime;

• Improved enforcement language for nurse-to-patient ratios;

• Ratios of 1:6 both day and night for general medical/surgical floors;

• Ratios of 1:4 both day and night for all intermediate/telemetry floors;

• Monitor techs for all intermediate/telemetry units;

• Base salary increases of $2,000/year; $66,000 in 2007, $68,000 in 2008 and $70,000 in 2009;

• Maintenance of current health benefits with no employee contribution to the premium;

• Maintenance of the current defined benefit plan.

Since 1985, the New York Professional Nurses Union has represented the registered nurses at Lenox Hill Hospital. In 2000, nurses at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital became members. The union has also grown to include per diems RNs, RN Case Managers, and Neonatal Nurse Practitioners.