The 820 RNs at Cooper Hospital in Camden, N.J., have their first contract, which provides better patient care standards, thanks in no small part to community support.

The nurses, who had elected the FNHP-affiliated Health Professionals and Allied Employees as their bargaining agent in July 1999, had been in negotiations since November fighting for contract language that would address better staffing standards, including more nurses for each patient, an end to forcing nurses to work outside their specialty and measures that would retain and recruit top health professionals.

During negotiations and in concert with National Nurses Day, the Cooper nurses joined scores of other nurses and their supporters for a community rally on May 6, marching from the New Jersey State Aquarium at Camden's waterfront to the Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center. Wearing T-shirts that said "By your side, on your side," the nurses joined area elected leaders, other unions and community representatives to call for safe staffing. "The whole community campaign had a lot to do with [the contract settlement]," said HPAE member and Cooper nurse Jean Lucas.

One politician at the rally, Rep. Rob Andrews (Dem.-Haddon Heights, N.J.), told the Asbury Park Press that he addressed the rally because he was "convinced that [the nurses'] cause is not simply the normal laborer desire for more money and better benefits. It's really about patient care."

Following the rally and other shows of support, the new HPAE local 5118 ratified its first contract on May 30. One of the highlights, says HPAE staff representative Terry Leone, is staffing language that calls for a committee to work with management on staffing and acuity levels. "They'll be obligated to respond within 30 days to our ideas," says Leone about the staffing committee setup. Also, there is language on floating "with a differential if you float outside your unit." Nurses are floated all over, says Leone and it must be brought under control for the sake of patient safety. Under the contract, narrow clinical groupings for floating will be established, and the hospital must provide training for those groupings. There is also a $2 per hour increase for any floating--voluntary or otherwise. The three-year contract also calls for a limit to weekend work requirements, limitations on overtime and protections against mandatory overtime, shift differentials, recruitment referral bonuses, tuition reimbursement and pay increases of 2.5 percent starting Sept. 7 and 3 percent in Oct. 2001.

"It's a very satisfying end result," said Lucas.