Nurses and other healthcare workers at University Hospital in Newark, N.J., ratified a three-year contract that includes pay increases and new safeguards related to Ebola treatment, according to a report on NJ.com.
Here are four things to know about the contract.
1. The contract covers approximately 1,300 nurses and other healthcare workers represented by the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union.
2. Under the contract, workers will receive annual raises of two percent, according to the article.
3. Additionally, the contract includes new safeguards stemming from University Hospital's experience with a potential Ebola case in 2014, according to the report. A nurse at the hospital was quarantined after returning from volunteering in West Africa. According to the report, the experience is now the basis of a lawsuit filed by the nurse, Kaci Hickox, who was kept in a plastic tent within the hospital while clinicians debated over her health status.
During the four-day Ebola episode, nurses felt unprepared to use the protective equipment required and worried about the financial hit they might take if they, in turn, had to be quarantined at home and couldn't work, Bridget Devane, public policy director for the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union, said in the report.
4. Under the new contract, no one will be required to staff the quarantine unit, and people who are quarantined after providing care to a patient will continue to be paid during their quarantine, according to the report. Also, the report states, the contract provides for ongoing employee training for handling new pandemics, as well as an increase in tuition reimbursement available for every employee.
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