Approximately 1,500 registered nurses at Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health reached a proposed contract agreement March 15, averting a potential strike, according to a union news release.
The three-year contract covers members of the Jersey Nurses Economic Security Organization District Council 1. It addresses various issues such as staffing, time off, pay increases and pension.
Specifically, the contract includes hiring additional nurses, annual pay increases of approximately 2 percent as well as step pay increases, said Virginia Treacy, RN and lead negotiator for JNESO, according to a Burlington County Times report. According to Virtua, the agreement also includes the addition of staff nurses into the implementation of a new acuity system capable of documenting patients' needs.
The new contract comes after the old contract expired last month, and after nurses agreed to strike if necessary following workers' complaints about not being able to take breaks or earned days off.
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