The 250 nurses and technicians of the American Red Cross, New Jersey-Penn Region, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, Local 5103, voted 2-1 in May to accept a contract providing significant improvements for union members. The workers had sent a notice of intent to strike if their contract negotiations were not resolved satisfactorily. The local had negotiated with the Red Cross for the previous two months over staffing, scheduling, wages and health benefits. Both parties agreed to the contract, which includes a 12 percent increase in wages over a three-year period, improvements in scheduling and a continued role for registered nurses on blood drives. “The contract negotiations were hard fought, and the result is a good contract that protects our members’ health and welfare benefits as well as giving the RNs job security. In addition, our members also will benefit from wage increases in spite of mandated cost cutbacks in the Penn-Jersey region,” says Judy Merkowsky, RN, co-president of the local.

Members of Health Professionals and Allied Employees, Local 5097 recently ratified a two-year agreement with their nursing home employer, The Harborage, in North Bergen, N.J. The 130-member local represents certified nursing aides, unit clerks, housekeepers, laundry workers and recreation aides. The new contract, which expires May 17, 2007, includes a wage increase of 4.5 percent for this year, and
4 percent next year. In addition, the contract stipulates that employee contributions to health insurance be frozen at the current level for two years.

In May, more than 50 of the 200 nurses represented by Healthcare-PSEA,
Local 5120, at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital in Kittanning, Pa., took part in a candlelight vigil on the road to the hospital. The event was held to increase community awareness and support for the nurses who have been working without a contract for nearly a year.

“Both sides are really not that far apart on the major issues and we are trying to encourage them to sit down with us and work out an agreement that is the best for both sides,” Healthcare-PSEA member Janet Jordan told the Kittanning Leader Times.  The two sides have not met since February.