Nurses want better deal

Retaining nurses is an issue

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — County nurses have been working without a contract for 11 months, and to push for one that grants them their demands, they dressed in red T-shirts and picketed in front of the government center on November 6.

Working against the backdrop of trying to formulate a budget under historically difficult financial conditions, county officials have already made progress with some county employees. The county has reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters Union, which represents more than half of the county’s 1,200 employees. The agreement calls for a 14.5 percent pay increase over the next five years. The same deal has been offered to the county nurses, but they say it is not enough.

The county nurses, who work in various departments, including the jail and the adult home, say it is difficult to attract and retain new nurses. Martha Wilcox, chairwoman of the Sullivan County New York State Nurses Association, said, “There are now 63 nurses, we were 75 last year. We have a promise from the county manager that the county will fund those positions if we can find nurses to fill them, but we can’t find nurses to fill the positions because of the pay scale and benefits.”

County manager David Fanslau said the nursing positions create revenue for the county because money can be collected from the state and federal government for the services they perform, so the situation remains: if new nurses can be attracted, those positions will be funded.

Wilcox also said cutbacks in county personnel last year have also lead to a strain on the nurses. “Due to the clerical cutbacks, we’re doing a lot of clerical work, faxing, copying, data entry, things like that. Four years ago, we didn’t even have computers. Public health nurses are now responsible for inputting all the data.”

Fanslau has said that in the matter of salaries, the county is going to hold firm and not make an offer that is better than the one made to the Teamsters.

Wilcox said that the county and the nurses are close on some issues regarding the contract, but many more issues remain, and on some the two sides are far apart.