After previously denying end-of-year bonuses to unionized registered nurses at two Bassett Healthcare Network facilities in New York, Bassett will provide a one-time gratitude bonus to these workers, The Daily Star reported Feb. 28.
The move, affecting RNs at A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta and A.O. Fox's Tri-Town Campus in Sidney, comes after Bassett announced Nov. 19, 2021, that gratitude bonuses would be paid to the network's nearly 5,000 caregivers and practitioners for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. RNs represented by the New York State Nurses Association did not receive the bonuses at the time because an agreement was not reached.
"Registered nursing staff at A.O. Fox Hospital and A.O. Fox Hospital's Tri-Town Campus, who are represented by a union and are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, have specific compensation terms that were negotiated as a part of the most recent contract arrangements," Tommy Ibrahim, MD, president and CEO of Bassett, explained in a statement shared with Becker's. "Management representatives from A.O. Fox and Tri-Town also engaged in discussions with the union in late 2021 about an agreement that would have provided the nurses from A.O. Fox and Tri-Town with one-time bonuses while addressing other contractual issues. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached."
Now, after a review of the situation, Bassett reached an agreement with the union to pay gratitude bonuses to the unionized nurses.
Full-time nurses will be paid one-time gratitude bonuses of $3,000, part-timers will be paid $1,500 and per diem nurses will receive $500 — the same amounts that were paid to other Bassett employees, according to a Feb. 28 news release from Bassett, which was shared with Becker's.
"We understand that the stresses caused by the pandemic have been felt acutely by our nurses, and their contributions are deserving of our sincere appreciation during these extraordinary times," Dr. Ibrahim said in the release.
The New York State Nurses Association praised the agreement.
"The A.O. Fox and Tri-Town nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association are pleased to hear that they will now receive the same year-end bonus that other Bassett employees received — without sacrificing anything in return," the union said in a statement shared with Becker's. "This gesture of appreciation and fairness is welcome news, and we look forward to working together more productively to achieve our mutual goal of providing quality care to all patients."