A member of Health Professionals and Allied Employees protests outside University Hospital in Newark on Sept. 18, 2024. (Mark J. Bonamo for New Jersey Monitor)
Nurses at University Hospital in Newark voted overwhelmingly Friday to ratify a new three-year contract, averting a strike that threatened to cripple care at New Jersey’s only public hospital.
The primary sticking point had been the union’s demand for 5:1 patient-to-worker ratios. Burned-out nurses said they had too many patients to safely handle, while university officials insisted their staffing complied with state regulations and they’d hired more than 170 nurses in the past year to reduce vacancies.
The new contract includes 6:1 patient-to-nurse ratios for medical and surgical units, with a commitment to 5:1 by July 2026 , according to the union . There will be a 5:1 ratio in pediatrics and 2:1 in intensive care units , the union says . There will also be a staffing committee with registered nurses and management to review compliance and a new wage scale individualized for each job title in a unit, “emphasizing the importance of the work the nurses do,” the union says.