Stressed NJ nurses, heroes amid pandemic, get mixed results in contract talks. Here’s why
New Jersey’s nurses, lauded as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic, have faced mixed results in labor negotiations with some of the state’s health systems this month.
Unionized nurses have signed a new three-year contract with the state’s largest public hospital, Bergen New Bridge Medical Center. But hundreds are working without new contracts at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, Barnabas Health Behavioral Health Center in Toms River, and Rutgers University’s Biomedical and Health Sciences division, their unions said.
And a nurses’ union questioned Hackensack Meridian Health over its decision to close child care centers at six of its hospitals, leading the health system to announce a three-month reprieve on Tuesday. Hackensack Meridian officials said the centers in Hackensack, Neptune, Brick, Red Bank, Edison and North Bergen would remain open through Dec. 31, instead of closing Sept. 30.