The 1,500 members of the federation of Nurses/United Federation of Teachers with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York made some "phenomenal" gains in their latest contract, says FN/UFT president Anne Goldman.

In addition to across-the-board salary increases of 8 percent over two years, the contract raises per-diem rates per case, boosts the per-diem "coordinator of care" bonus 100 percent and gives RNs significant increases for 11-15 years of experience and for more than 16 years of VNS experience.

Also, FN/UFT members won an additional payment for nurses visiting newborns and their mothers. "It's a big win, because in the past few years they stopped paying [extra for] nurses who went in to see newborn babies--they weren't getting paid to look in on mom, too," says Goldman. "Now they will get the [regular] rate plus an additional $15."

Brand new in this contract is a career ladder and an additional uniform benefit. On health benefits, says Goldman, nurses won a hard-fought battle to obtain the money necessary to maintain benefits to cover health care, as well as the addition of domestic partner benefits. Members also won a longer leave of absence--an additional six months, higher reimbursements for certification exams and an increase in the differential for certification, which was $200 and is now $500.

A badly needed provision that the unit won is computer identification of "escort areas"--areas considered unsafe and require escorts for home visits. This is a big achievement, says Goldman, since knowing what areas require escorts goes a long way toward ensuring members' safety.