St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and the New York State Nurses Association reached a tentative four-year contract late Monday, averting a strike by 1,300 nurses that had been called for next week.

Hours after the St. Luke’s deal was announced, Mount Sinai Medical Center said that it had reached a tentative deal with the Nurses Association. A spokesman for the union said that there is a 5 p.m. meeting scheduled to discuss a potential settlement. He noted that no deal deal has been finalized.

In the St. Luke’s deal, health benefits were a key issue at the bargaining table. Nurses have not historically contributed to health insurance premiums, but the union lost a major arbitration decision over the summer that compels workers to start kicking in money for their benefits.

Details of the deal, scheduled for a Jan. 4 ratification vote, were not immediately available. But a Nurses Association spokesman said an unspecified raise and the establishment of a prescription drug fund helped to offset workers’ increased health care outlay.

“We found a solution through a combination of a fair wage increase and helping people who have higher prescription costs,” the spokesman said. The deal also included adjustments sought by the nurses to staffing levels, he said.

The nurses withdrew their strike notice, and the hospital canceled its contingency plans for a potential walkout.

“Most importantly, we have addressed our nurses’ chief concerns while still remaining within St. Luke’s-Roosevelt’s economic means,” wrote Stanley Brezenoff, president of Continuum Health Partners, in a memo to staff.

The nurses’ union is continuing to negotiate a new deal at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. Officials at the hospital declined to comment on the potential impact of the St. Luke’s deal to their bargaining sessions. An agreement was ratified by the nurses at New York-Presbyterian Hospital earlier this month.

(Source: Crains NY)