The State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors has ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with the Pennsylvania Nurses Association (PNA), which represents about 75 registered nurses and certified nurse practitioners who work in the state-owned university health centers.
The nurses approved the agreement in a vote held earlier this month.
The contract is effective July 1, 2000 and will run through June 30, 2004.
“We are extremely pleased to have a new long-term contract with this extraordinary group of dedicated professionals,” said Chancellor James H. McCormick. “The nurses at our university health centers provide a vital service to our students and it is reassuring to know they will be there when they are needed.”
PNA President Bonnie Goshen of Millersville University of Pennsylvania said she was especially pleased with the length of the new contract.
“What a four-year contract says is that there a lot of confidence in the services we provide,” Goshen said. “It also provides us with a great deal of security. We are pleased”
Thomas Krapsho, director of labor relations for the State System, also expressed satisfaction with the length of the new pact, which is the longest the two groups have ever reached. “It gives us long-term stability,” Krapsho said.
The new agreement provides for general pay increases totaling approximately 11.5 percent over the next four years. Nurses will receive a 2 percent increase retroactive to July 1, then additional increases of 1 percent on January 1, 2001; 2 percent on July 1, 2001; 1.5 percent on January 1, 2002; and 2.5 percent each on July 1, 2002 and July 1, 2003. Nurses also will continue to receive an annual service increment of 2.25 percent.
The amount of reimbursement a nurse will receive for participating in professional education will increase initially from $1,000 per year to $1,100. The amount will increase to $1,200 on July 1, 2001 and to $1,350 on July 1, 2003.
The new contract also includes increases in the number of personal, annual and sick leave days and in travel expense rates.
The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 350,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.