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Gage is uncaged: B-P grad returns to pros with SF

Nurses at Albany Medical Center overwhelmingly approved a new four-year labor contract, capping off more than a year of negotiations that centered around bolstering staffing levels.

The agreement, which was reached late last week, was approved by 98% of nurses over a two-day vote Monday and Tuesday, according to the New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents the approximately 1,800 nurses that work at the hospital.

“This is a new day for nurses at Albany Medical Center,” Jennifer Bejo, the local union president at the hospital, said in a statement.

Under the contract, which takes effect immediately and runs through July 2028, the starting wage for new nurses is set to increase 21%, from the current $33 per hour to $40. Current nurses will also receive a pay bump of at least 13%, with most wages set to increase by 17%.

The contract also includes additional wage increases over the next two years, as well as increased incentives for nurses who work specific shifts or hold mentorship positions. Reimbursement for tuition and continuing education is also set to increase, according to Dr. Dennis McKenna, president and CEO of Albany Med, who described the raises as “meaningful enhancements” that will strengthen the hospital’s ability to recruit and retain nurses.

“Our nurses earned these raises. They deserve them, and we are truly happy to give them to them,” he said during a press briefing Wednesday at the hospital’s Huyck Auditorium.

The contract comes just months after Albany Med reached an agreement with the state’s Department of Health to pay a $375,000 fine over hundreds of violations to the state’s minimum staffing law that was implemented in 2022.

Nurses repeatedly pointed to the more than 500 violations outlined in a DOH report as proof that the hospital was rife with unsafe working conditions that ultimately compromised patient care and exacerbated turnover among nurses.

“Albany Med nurses persevered and finally won the contract that nurses, patients and our community deserves,” Jaimie Alaxanian, a registered nurse at Albany Med and member of the bargaining team, said in a........

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