Nurses at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia have approved a new three-year contract that includes signing bonuses.
The agreement, approved May 15, covers 485 members of the St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children Nurses United, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, according to a union news release shared with Becker's.
Under the deal, full-time nurses will receive a $1,600 signing bonus; part-time and per diem nurses will receive $1,100, according to the union. Some nurses are seeing increases of as much as 10% over the life of the contract.
Union representatives said the agreement also includes:
- A new weekend program
- A commitment to add a resource nurse in the emergency department
- A commitment to maintain a resource nurse in med-surg
- Measures to address workplace violence, including installing weapons detectors, and agreeing to, in time, remove the last names of nurses from badges
"We worked incredibly hard, over four long months, to prioritize the needs of our patients — to increase safety, excellence in patient care, and staff retention," Becky Murphy, RN, vice president of the St. Christopher's Hospital for Children Nurses United, said in the release. "This contract does that and more."
The hospital's parent organization, West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health, shared the following statement with Becker's: "We are pleased with the results of the negotiations, and we appreciate the hard work of all involved to find common ground. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with St. Christopher's dedicated and talented nurses to provide the high-quality care to our patients, their families, and the community that has been the hallmark of St. Christopher's for almost 150 years."