Ten days before a contract between University Hospital in Newark and its nurses is set to expire, the two sides remain at odds mostly over one issue that has had a serious impact on hospitals and their nurses nationwide: patient-to-worker ratios.
Among the demands of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Local 5089 is the establishment of a 5:1 patient-to-worker ratio, a ratio that union leaders argue will help the hospital recruit and retain nurses and other health care workers. According to the union, New Jersey has about 146,000 nurses licensed in the state, but only about 78,000 nurses are willing to work, with an even smaller percentage of that number working in hospitals.