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pay aims to ease nursing shortage State hikes hiring rates, pay for downstate direct-care nurses By SHERRY HALBROOK The state has approved substantial hikes in salary differentials aimed at easing short staffing by making its pay more competitive in recruiting and retaining direct-care nurses at all state agencies in all five counties that make up New York City and at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw. The hikes are effective October 25 and will boost annual pay for the affected nurses by at least $6,347, and as much as $11,000. “This is good for us, this is really good,” says PEF Trustee Glendore Ulerie, a nurse 2 at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. “Our members are very happy,” Ulerie says. “This came at the right time, because we can no longer recruit nurses. Even the new ones we do attract usually quit after two or three months because they are floated all over the place to units they weren’t trained for. And when nurses come to work, they never know when they will be able to go home. They may have to work another shift, after their shift ends.” Staffing at the state University of NY medical center is stretched so tightly, Ulerie says, that one nurse,“had to call in sick just to go to her own wedding.” Pay hiked to attract nurses These pay hikes are considered temporary because they could end if the supply of nurses increases enough to make lower pay competitive in these regions. However, experts say the supply of nurses is likely to diminish in the foreseeable future. Although these raises in hiring rates and geographic pay differentials, are not directly negotiated by the union, PEF is constantly drawing the state’s attention to uncompetitive pay and understaffing in nursing and other titles throughout state service. “We have been working intensively for several years to get the state to improve staffing levels throughout much of state service,” says PEF President Roger Benson. “In fact, I have just appointed a new work group on full staffing which is headed by PEF Vice President Joe Fox. He has been working for some time with the PEF Nurses Committee and staff to press the state for boosts to nurses’ pay across the board. “The PEF labor-management committee at the state Department of Correctional Services has also been involved, working with us to make a case for a comprehensive reallocation package for PEF members, including many nurses, at that agency,” Benson adds. The new pay hikes for downstate nurses come in the form of higher geographic pay and increased hiring rates. “The increase in the minimum-salary (hiring-rate) differential is paid to all new hires and current employees who are not at the job rate,” says PEF Director of Civil Service Enforcement Tom Cetrino. “But the hiring-rate differential can never raise your salary above the job rate for your salary grade. The geographic differential is added to all salaries, including those at the job rate.” Many other titles boosted Over the last 12 months the state has boosted a variety of pay differentials for various PS&T titles in areas where it was having trouble keeping and attracting staff in specific titles. For instance, in April, the state upped its hiring rate for psychiatrists in the Binghamton and Middletown areas. In May, the state raised its hiring rate for its pharmacists all over the state. Shift pay went up in June for three nursing titles at state mental-health operations in Albany. And in August, the state upped its pay for public-health nurses and some other nursing and health-care titles downstate. Titles unrelated to healthcare also can receive differentials. Hiring rates were raised for junior architects and engineers, certain computer programmers, and for excise tax investigators in various regions. More pay boosts possible Still more pay boosts in the form of higher hiring rates and geographic and shift pay may be coming soon. The state director of classification and compensation has requested state Budget Division approval for another hike for pharmacists. More increases are being considered for nurses and psychiatrists. The union is able to negotiate directly for increases in location pay on the basis of higher costs for living in certain areas. Inconvenience (on-call or standby) pay differentials are also subject to collective bargaining, and these are boosted under the new PS&T contract. “While some of these pay differentials put considerably more money into some members’ paychecks, they are really only a good first step,” Benson says. “Many more inequities remain. That’s why we continue to press for fair and equitable salaries for all PEF-represented titles.” |