NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Nurses at Cooper University Hospital in Camden have reached a tentative agreement with the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Union Local 5118.
Full details on the agreement will not be released until nurses vote to ratify the new contract next week, but higher pay and better staff-to-patient ratios are believed to be major parts of the new contract.
In a statement from Cooper Health Care, Chief Nursing Executive Kathy Devine said the agreement “demonstrates our commitment to Cooper nurses as well as to patient safety,” adding that the contract makes Cooper nurses the highest-paid nurses in South Jersey.
Debbie White, union president, said having better enforceable staffing ratios in the agreement would “help retain nurses at the bedside.”
Two more local HPAE unions at Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood Hospital are still at the negotiating table and could go on strike if an agreement isn’t reached.
Nurses at Cooper will vote to ratify the agreement on Tuesday and Wednesday.