Of the roughly 1,000 union nurses across three Catholic Health hospitals on Long Island, two groups now have contracts and one is working without one. St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson ratified in July [1]. St. Joseph's Hospital voted on a tentative deal at the end of the month [2][3]. St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown watched its contract expire July 31 with no agreement [2].
St. Charles is the template the union built. Nurses there voted 99.7 percent on June 12 to authorize a strike, delivered a 10-day strike notice on June 30 threatening a July 13 walkout, and reached a tentative agreement before the deadline [1]. On July 10 they ratified it with 91 percent voting yes [1]. The three-year deal raises wages 4 percent, then 3 percent plus a $100 differential, then 4 percent, which the union totals at roughly 15 percent cumulative [1]. It also adds 15 new full-time float pool nurses, expedited enforcement of safe-staffing rules, workplace-violence protections including panic buttons and security rounding, and safeguards on how the hospital implements artificial intelligence [1].
"When we fight, we win! Nurses' main priority was safe staffing, and this contract will deliver concrete and enforceable improvements," said Rob Barone, RN, the local bargaining unit president [1]. Kim Bowman, RN, made the pattern ambition explicit: "This great contract sets a high standard for other Catholic Health hospitals to follow" [1].
St. Joseph's appears to have followed. Its nurses reached a tentative agreement in late July, with a ratification vote scheduled for the week of July 31 [2]. A headline on the union's news page reads "St. Joseph's Nurses Vote to Ratify New Contract," which indicates the vote succeeded; the vote's date, margin, and terms could not be confirmed for this piece [3].
That leaves Smithtown. As of the union's July 24 update, St. Catherine of Siena was "the only Catholic Health hospital where administrators have yet to settle a fair contract," with the contract set to expire July 31 [2]. The expiration has now passed. No strike notice had been issued as of that update, and no newer public record of one was found [2].
The St. Charles terms are now the visible benchmark: the roughly 15 percent cumulative raise, the float pool, the enforceable staffing language. Whether Catholic Health extends that pattern to its last unsettled hospital, or holds a different line at Smithtown once the strike-season momentum has passed, is the question the expired contract now forces.
