St. Catherine of Siena Hospital nurses ratify contract with 23% raise

Nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown voted to ratify a new contract that will grant union members an average wage increase of 23% over a three-year period, the union announced Wednesday.

The New York State Nurses Association said 89% of voting members opted to ratify the contract, which will also improve retiree health benefits, and provide incentive pay for nurses who float between units as needed. 

 The contract provides an 18% increase in nurses' base salaries over the three years. That rises to 23% on average when accounting for new and increased pay nurses will receive based on experience and in certain circumstances, such as working specific shifts.

Nurses will also receive premium holiday pay for working on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth under the new contract. The previous contract expired July 31. 

The 296-bed hospital and its nurses reached a deal Friday morning after the union authorized a potential strike four days earlier. The two sides reached an agreement before NYSNA delivered a legally required 10-day notice of its intention to go on strike.

The union, which has about 400 members at the facility, said the new contract addresses the need for standardized nurse-to-patient ratios and enforcement of those ratios, which it said will benefit patients. Nurses at the hospital said earlier this month that pay at the hospital lagged behind other Long Island facilities, which was making it harder to hire and keep nurses.

“With improved staffing and wage increases that make us competitive with other Long Island hospitals, St. Catherine will be able to recruit and retain more nurses to ensure quality care for every single patient that walks through our doors,” Tammy Miller, a registered nurse and NYSNA president at the hospital, said in a statement.

The contract specifies minimum staffing ratios of one nurse to two patients in critical care units and one nurse to six patients in medical-surgical units. To ensure those ratios are met, the hospital agreed to add as many as 41 new nurse positions, the union said. 

NYSNA said it has agreed to a six-month delay in enforcement of the staffing ratios while the hospital hires more nurses, but its members will still be able to file protests of assignment if they believe those ratios aren't being met. After the six months, a dispute over staffing could go to arbitration. 

Lisa Greiner, a spokeswoman for the six-hospital Catholic Health system, said the new contract reflects the hospital's commitment to its nurses.

“The agreement ensures that our nurses continue to be supported with competitive salary increases and staffing improvements,” she said. “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.”

Nationally, wages have grown faster in recent years, as the pace of inflation picked up and workers needed to earn more to keep up with rising prices.

From 2019 to 2022, the average wage increase among private-sector workers on Long Island was 17.5%, or 5.8% a year, according to data from the state Department of Labor. 

Long Island's aging population is expected to increase demand for health care services in the next decade, and there are nearly 20,000 local health care workers older than 65 that are nearing retirement, said Shital Patel, labor economist at the state Department of Labor's Hicksville office. 

Those factors, "combined with more health care workers leaving the industry after being burnt out by the pandemic and dealing with long hours and staff shortages, have led to hospital staff having increased bargaining power," she said. 

The new contract is the latest to boost pay for NYSNA members on Long Island. The union reached agreements at Catholic Health’s St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson and St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage as well as Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore earlier this year.

Nurses at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside voted to join the union in January.

 Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, which has 42,000 members statewide, said the new contract was a victory for its members and “showed the power of nurses coming together to fight for the care their patients deserve and the respect nurses deserve.”

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.