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United Steelworkers Nurses Local 4-200 have voted overwhelmingly to ratify their contract with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and should be back to work in the first week of January after a four-month strike for safer staffing.
1,100 of the union’s 1,700 members voted with 88 percent giving the thumbs up to the deal that expires Jan. 30,2026.
“The contract is a start for safe staffing and we think it is a fair contract,” Judy Danella, president of USW Nurses Local 4-200, told InsiderNJ. “Now, we have to press ahead in Trenton to get safer staffing statewide. It’s the beginning steps and other unions will follow and fight for the same thing.”
Under the terms of the deal the hospital will face monetary penalties paid in the form of premium pay to nurses when management fails to meet the staffing standards.
“This contract would not have been possible if the nurses hadn’t stood together and demanded what our patients deserve,” said Danella. “This campaign has always been about safety and quality care, and we are ready to get back to work doing what we love.”
The hospital will also add an additional 70 registered nurse (RN) positions, effective May 1, 2024. These positions will be a mixture of full-time and part-time employees.
Back in May, several hundred nurses with a coalition of New Jersey healthcare unions, led of the NJ AFL-CIO, kicked off a lobbying campaign with a rally to get New Jersey to adopt the safe staffing standards adopted by the State of California. Subsequent research studies documented markedly improved patient outcomes, improved workplace safety, better infection control and increased nurse retention since the codification of staffing standards.
“Some people thought that our younger members would not support the strike because millennials do what they want and they wouldn’t support the strike but are young one are really involved now and, along with our members with longevity, are motivated to continue this staffing fight in the statehouse,” Danella told InsiderNJ.
“The new contract provides for staffing standards that support the highest levels of care provided at academic medical centers, such as RWJUH, and offers a collaborative platform and process for nurses and leadership to address staffing issues and concerns together,” said Alan Lee, president of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. “It also provides compensation that reflects the value of the role of the RWJUH nurse on the care team, many of which hold the highest certifications and education levels in their field. This agreement reflects our shared commitment to providing the highest quality patient care and creating a safe and supportive working environment for our nurses and all team members.
Lee’s statement continued. “RWJUH nurses do incredible work each and every day to heal, treat and assist our patients. They do it with passion and heart and deserve everyone’s support, respect, and appreciation. Their value to this hospital, to our patients and to the community is profound. We are excited and eager to welcome our nurses back home to their colleagues and their patients, and to continue our important work in improving the health of our patients and community.”
Throughout the strike that started on Aug. 4, Local 4-200 was joined on the picket line in New Brunswick by other unions, elected officials and community members.
“The workers, the community, our Rutgers allies, people who came out of the woodwork I would never have had the opportunity to learn from and work with—that was the real win—the realization that we really have a community that’s now a coalition,” USW Nurses Local 4-200 member Carol Tanzi, RN, told InsiderNJ. “That coalition has taken off and we’ve been going to all of these local town council meetings getting towns to sign resolutions supporting the safer staffing bill in Trenton.”
“We want to congratulate the United Steelworkers 4-200 nurses on the successful ratification of their contract,” said Debbie White, RN, president of HPAE, the stages largest nurses union. “The prolonged strike has highlighted the critical issue of safe staffing in the state of New Jersey. The USW nurses won their battle for safe nurse to patient ratios, paving the way for all in our fight for safe staffing. We are grateful to these healthcare heroes. Safe Staffing really does improve patient outcomes, keeps nurses in hospitals, and saves hospitals money. Why would anyone not want that?”
“NYSNA nurses congratulate USW Local 4-200 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital on their contract victory,” said
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, in a statement. “You showed tremendous courage and resolve by striking for safe staffing to protect your patients and profession. Nurses all over the country have been inspired by your example, and we will continue to build solidarity until we achieve our common goal of ensuring safe staffing in every hospital.”
“We hope the new contract includes the changes and improvements that the nurses and their leadership have shined the spotlight on over the past few months,” said Douglas Placa, Executive Director of JNESO District Council 1, IUOE AFL-CIO, which represents some 5,000 nurses and technicians in NJ and PA. “We give credit to Judy Danella and her negotiating committee for holding the line and fighting hard for what they believe in.”
Healthcare unions maintain establishing safe staffing standards are key to encouraging nurses to remain or return to the profession hit so hard by the pandemic with 3,600 nurses losing their life in the first wave of the pandemic, according to the Guardian newspaper and the Kaiser Health News.
Today, even as hospitals scramble to find nurses, over one million are opting to stay sidelined with just half of New Jersey’s 140,000 licensed nurses choosing to work in the state’s hospitals.
The renewed push for the staffing requirements comes as a national survey predicted New Jersey would be shy 11,400 nurses by 2030, ranking it in the top ten states with a severe shortfall. Also included in that crisis mix is Connecticut (27,926), New York (18,784), and Pennsylvania (16,430).
At a field hearing in New Brunswick convened back in October by Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-VT), chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee captioned “Overworked and Undervalued: Is the Severe Hospital Staffing Crisis Endangering the Well-Being of Patients and Nurses?” union leaders and experts put the healthcare workforce exodus in a national context.
“The reasons for these departures are understaffing, poor working conditions and the corresponding fear of harming patients and witnessing this harm is resulting in moral injury, a form of trauma caused by not being able to provide the care they believe patients need and feeling they are powerless to make change,” testified Dr. Patricia Pittman, with the Milken Institute of Public Health at George Washington University.
Pittman continued. “Among the outcomes of this distress is depression and suicide. Nurses commit suicide at twice the rate of the general population,” Pittman said. “Nurses concerns over staffing have been borne out by 20 years of research outcomes associated with low staffing levels including patient mortality, failure to rescue, hospital acquired pneumonia, respiratory failure, ulcers, falls, urinary infections and patient satisfaction.”
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