Local 5131 Contract Summary

Term of the Contract: 3 years, expires May 31, 2022 

Article 53 Wages:

• Across the board wage increases:
• 1^st year- 2.50%, retro to June 1^st
• 2^nd year- 2.25%
• 3^rd year- 2.25%
• With additional step increases the first pay period in December that average 1%.

Benefits:

• No changes to your health benefits, 403b or frozen LTS balances from December 31, 2002.

Article 27 Reassignment:

• No involuntary reassignment to Mullica Hill or Woodbury campuses (except dialysis).
• $5.00 differential for volunteering to go work at Mullica Hill or Woodbury if you sign-up ahead of time.
• Nurses with 30 or more years of seniority will no longer be reassigned involuntarily between campuses, unless there is no one less senior for the reassignment.
• Detox nurses may be reassigned to the ED crisis and/or ED patients waiting for medical clearance. Acute care and Detox may be reassigned to each other for a critical need. Detox will be reassigned within Bridgeton campus prior to being reassigned to other campuses.

Article 70 Temporary Reduction of Staffing (Cancellation):

• Employees may be placed on standby for 4 fours at the start of their scheduled shift, in lieu of cancellation. You cannot be cancelled mid-shift if you are called into work during the standby period. You will be paid standby pay of $4.00/hr.

Article 14 Classification of Employees:

• There will be a slight increase in the amount of hours you have to give for your availability.

Article 29 National Certification Approval and Prepayment Process:

• Reduced the number of hours you have to work in a year from 1,000 to 500 needed for the hospital to pay for your national certification and mandatory education requirements.

NJ Earned Sick Leave Law:

• We are now included (FT and PT) to the NJ Earned Sick Leave Law protections, now can have up to 40 hours of “sick time” to use before a callout will count as an occurrence.

Article 24 Preceptors and Preceptor Pay:

• Increased opportunities for preceptor pay. A 1:1 with a student now qualifies for the differential.
• During the orientation period, preceptors and orienteers will not be reassigned from their unit whenever possible.

Side Letter:

• Extended BSN deadline of 2 years for members not grandfathered into not having that as a requirement. New employees will have two years from their date of hire to finish their BSN.
• Increased tuition reimbursement for BSN degree- $10,000 for full-time, $5,000 for part-time with a two year commitment, current reimbursements with 1 year commitment are still an option.

Article 42 Scheduling:

• Managers will now let you know if your short term PTO request is granted or denied within 4 weeks from the receipt of the request.
• You can now request extended PTO at the beginning of the year for the following 12 months and not just the calendar year.

Article 48 Holidays:

• Off-shift employees will now receive holiday pay for their entire shift.
• We have language that allows individual units to create holiday schedules different than what’s in the contract and they will not be unreasonably denied if it meets the operational needs of the unit. Current holiday scheduling practices remain the same if it works for your unit.

Article 35 Job Posting:

• We will now have preference for job postings at Mullica Hill or Woodbury over outside candidates and vice versa. Internal candidates at each local still have first preference for positions.
• Must stay in a new position for 6 months + orientation/introductory period before you can transfer to another position, management may waive this requirement at its discretion, which will not be unreasonably denied.
• The hospital will let you know in writing (email) if you do not get a job you applied for within 7 days.

Article 46 Overtime:

• More equitable distribution of granting overtime- if two or more employees want an overtime shift, it will be granted to the person that will incur the least amount of overtime for that week.

Article 70 Clinical Ladder:

• Added an additional option in level 1 of the clinical ladder, changed deadline for submission, but that will take effect January 2020.