1199SEIU Moves To Rebargain Contract For 78,000 Health Care Workers Ahead Of Schedule

NEW YORK — The 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East union has called for reopening its framework agreement for 90 hospitals and nursing homes in the medium term, citing a job and retention crisis in the industry and widespread burnout of health care workers.

The contract with the Association of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes of New York, which covers approximately 78,000 healthcare workers, does not expire until September 2024.

The league negotiated the contract on behalf of several of New York's largest hospitals, including New York-Presbyterian, NYU Langone Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, and Northwell Health's Lenox Hill Hospital.

"The unprecedented problems affecting the health care system and workforce have made it clear to the union that we cannot wait for our current contract to expire," union spokesman Brian Lloyd Pollard said in a statement to Politico.

Lloyd Pollard said the union's priority was to raise wages for workers at all levels.

League officials and 1199SEIU are expected to meet in person early next week to discuss the proposal, according to a letter from league president Mark Kramer sent to union president George Gresham and received by POLITICO.

Kramer said the university "shares your concerns about the national shortage of healthcare workers."

“After speaking to our members, and without acknowledging whether or not we will eventually agree to reopen, we are ready to meet with you to find out more,” he wrote in the letter, dated February 15.

The union's decision comes just weeks after more than 7,000 members of the New York State Nurses Union went on strike for three days and won historic new contracts at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center.

His current three-year contract, which dates back to September 2021, includes a one-time $3,000 bonus and salary increases of 2% in the first year and 3% each in the following two years. June 16 is a new public holiday.