Northwell, South Shore U Hospital nurses reach tentative deal, averting strike

Northwell Health and the union representing nurses at South Shore University Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement early Thursday, averting a strike.

The New York State Nurses Association said it had struck a deal between 2 and 3 a.m. with Northwell. The union said the nurses withdrew the notice of a strike that would have started on Monday.

The tentative agreement calls for “improvements to and enforcement of safe staffing standards” at the Bay Shore hospital, as well as increases in nurses’ salaries and retirees’ health benefits, NYSNA said. The nurses will vote Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on whether to ratify the agreement, and more details on the contract terms would be released after ratification, the union said.

NYSNA’s local president at South Shore, Chrysse Blau, said in a statement, "This victory is a testament of our nurses’ commitment to patient care.” Blau said the nurses hope that under the new contract, they will have “the staffing and working conditions we need to provide our patients with the excellent care each of them deserves.”  

New Hyde Park-based Northwell said in a statement, “From the start of negotiations, our sole focus remained on ensuring that our patients continue to receive world-class care and our dedicated nurses have the best working environment to provide that care. The agreement provides our nurses with competitive salary increases and benefit enhancements and reaffirms our commitment that our patients continue to receive safe, high-quality care.”  

Nurses at South Shore voted early this month to authorize a strike, with 99% voting in favor of a potential walkout. They delivered a strike notice on Feb. 14, alerting the hospital a walkout would begin Monday if an agreement was not reached.

The union has nearly 800 members working at South Shore. Their contract expired almost a year ago.

“To be able to have the staff needed to care for patients safely was our biggest concern,” Arielle Shea, 31, a labor and delivery nurse at South Shore, said in an interview Thursday. In addition, she said, the increased salaries and retiree health benefits “are huge for being able to retain and attract nurses.”

The contract also calls for the nurses to gain a paid holiday on Juneteenth, the June 19 federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, Shea said.

Last month, approximately 7,000 nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center's Bronx campus went on strike before NYSNA reached agreements with those hospitals to increase staffing and raise salaries by 19% over three years.

At Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital in Oceanside, a majority of about 800 nurses voted last month to join the nurses union.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.