Jackson’s registered nurses to get hefty raise after staff shortages fueled by pandemic
Fueled by a pandemic nursing shortage that led hospitals to struggle to staff their units, registered nurses at Jackson Memorial Hospital are about to get a 13 percent pay raise as part of a new three-year contract, the biggest raise in the union’s 31-year history.
When combined with other benefits, such as extra pay for nurses who train new hires or nurses who work in certain areas such as behavioral health, some nurses could see up to a 17% pay increase by the end of the year, according to SEIU Healthcare Florida Local 1991, the union that represents the 6,400 registered nurses, attending physicians and healthcare professionals at Miami-Dade’s public hospital system. The pay raise will be fully in effect by October.
“The financial victories were to retain and recruit the best nurses so we can continue to give the best care to our patients,” said Martha Baker, a Jackson registered nurse and the union’s executive director.
Staffing levels have neared pre-pandemic levels at Jackson, though the hospital, which typically has more than 3,000 nurses, still needs to hire about 300 full-time nurses, according to Julie Staub, Jackson’s executive vice president and chief human resources officer. That’s about a 10% vacancy rate.
The 2023-2026 contract, which was finalized last month after 12 hours of bargaining, was ratified by the county commission last Thursday. Union and hospital leaders hope the new contract will help retain experienced nurses and attract new hires.
Pandemic-fueled burnout
During the pandemic, nurses retired or left the profession at higher rates, due to the stress of COVID-19, burnout and staffing shortages. The result: Projections call for a nearly 80,000 shortfall nationally in full-time equivalent registered nurses by 2025.
READ MORE: We never ran from it.’ COVID left emotional scars on South Florida’s healthcare heroes
For veteran nurses like Lisa Bush, with nearly 20 years of experience, 10 of those at Jackson, the new contract will help with the rising costs of living in South Florida.
“It makes me feel that the county ... and the hospital values me as an experienced caregiver; it values my experience and expertise,” said Bush.
Bush works in the trauma ICU at Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where patients are treated for gunshots, severe burns and broken bones, among other emergencies.
Jackson, she said, is the best place to work if you want to keep your skills sharp.
But the hospital, like other hospitals across the country, found itself bidding for nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, dishing out over $200 million a year in “premium pay” — overtime, extra work shifts, hiring traveling nurses — to ensure that Jackson could care for the sickest of patients, according to Baker.
“The staffing crisis was really a war about money,” said Baker.
Registered nurses in the U.S. made an annual mean wage of $89,010, according to May 2022 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Florida, which has one of the highest numbers of registered nurses, the annual salary was $79,910, the data show. In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area, the annual salary was higher than the state average, but lower than the national average, at $81,810.
READ NEXT: ‘Everything’s gone up.’ Nurses at Miami VA hospital rally for higher pay
“The name of the game is flexibility. People want us to meet them where they’re at when they think about employment opportunities ... we’re looking at a lot of different ways that we can bring flexibility to what is important to people,” said Staub.
Other contract benefits
Besides the pay increases, the new contract provides various other benefits, including health insurance for part-time nurses who work 24 hours a week (previously it was 30 hours a week, in alignment with the Affordable Care Act, Staub said).
The contract also reduces the time between “step progressions” — the number of years a nurse would need to get a raise based on their experience. And for the second and third years of the contract, the union and management will discuss possible cost-of-living increases.
“The focus is on retention and recruitment so that we can give the patients at Jackson the care they deserve and have a workforce that feels respected and appreciated with a competitive wage,” said Baker.
Going forward, the union wants to improve staffing ratios to reduce the number of patients a nurse would care for during their shift.
“If you have adequate staffing, patients get better faster, and they can get out of the hospital sooner ... When you have a safe number of patients per nurse, you can do great care, patients often get better faster, have less complications and get discharged on time or sooner.,” Baker said. “And the opposite is true when a nurse has too many patients.”
