Seventy home health nurses at the nonprofit provider Centerlight Healthcare reached a labor deal on Wednesday that reinstates their health insurance coverage, which they say was illegally revoked by their employer earlier this year.
The nurses, represented by the New York State Nurses Association, threatened to go on strike on April 14 if they couldn’t reach a deal with Centerlight that improved pay and restored their health insurance. The union accused the Flushing long-term care provider of abruptly terminating nurses’ health plans at the end of last year after the parties couldn’t come to an agreement on wages and benefits. Centerlight denied the union’s claims, stating that they offered coverage options that the nurses rejected during negotiations.
The deal takes a strike off the table. Under the three-year contract, which was negotiated with a third-party mediator, the nurses will be able to keep their old health plan, albeit at a higher cost. The nurses will pay a monthly premium between $100 and $400 for insurance, up from the $21 per month they paid under their old contract, according to the union. Centerlight offered 4% wage increases each year, higher than what it put forth in previous proposals, as well as a travel stipend that offsets higher insurance costs, the union said.
“We are pleased the nurses came back to the negotiating table and agreed to a fair contract, which was always the objective,” David Silva, chief administrative officer at Centerlight, said in an emailed statement. Centerlight declined to answer questions about the terms of the agreement.
The union has been bargaining for a new contract since the previous agreement expired in September. Nurses rejected multiple proposals put forth by Centerlight during negotiations because of increased health insurance costs, causing the talks to reach a standstill by the end of last year. Amid stalled negotiations, Centerlight failed to renew nurses’ health plans for the following year, leaving them without coverage, according to the union. The union filed unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.
The nurses voted to ratify their new contract on Wednesday. The agreement is retroactive to the beginning of this year.
