The 120-day-long strike by nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick took a major step closer to ending on Friday, as union and hospital leaders announced a tentative deal.
Roughly 1,700 nurses at the hospital represented by the United Steel Workers Local 4-200 walked off the job four months ago, demanding hospital leadership address staffing ratios and other issues. In the meantime, the hospital has spent more than $120 million on replacement nurses.
Details of the deal have not yet been made public, but union president Judy Danella said in a statement that it includes enforceable safe-staffing standards. The deal still has to be approved by a vote of the union’s membership. Until then, the stoppage will continue, union leaders said.
