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Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Karen Bruce, President of Local 721, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), today announced a tentative settlement, subject to ratification by the membership, of an overall economic agreement covering approximately 1,100 Licensed Practical Nurses. The covered nurses perform vital services in the City's hospitals, primarily in long term care, acute care and diagnostic and treatment services.

"This agreement mirrors the agreement reached between the City and District Council 37 that established the basic parameters for collective bargaining settlements in this round of bargaining," Mayor Giuliani said.

The settlement covers the 27-month period from July 1, 2000 through September 30, 2002.

The principal features of this Agreement include:

The Mayor also announced that, as part of this settlement, the City will establish and implement Performance Compensation. Under the Program, which will include additional compensation for outstanding performance, the City will notify the Union of its intent to pay such additional compensation.

This Agreement will also serve as the catalyst to effectuate several recent innovations and enhancements in pensions and health benefits arrived at through collective bargaining with the Municipal Labor Committee. A number of pension and benefit improvements are scheduled to be implemented upon the ratification of this Agreement.

The City and the Municipal Labor Committee worked together to reach historic results in both pension and health benefit areas in May 2000 and January 2001, respectively. The pension agreement saved the City $800 Million due to the pension restart; and the health agreement saved more than $360 Million in FY2003 and FY2004. The benefits from both pension and health deals will take place upon the ratification of this Agreement.

The Mayor continued, "Once again, the City's commitment to attain fiscally prudent settlements has been coupled with the Union's aim to achieve fair treatment and compensation, as well as job security, for its members."

Karen E. Bruce, President of Local 721, said, "We're happy that the City has acknowledged the contribution and dedication of its LPNs. This contract should be of enormous assistance in helping HHC recruit and retain LPNs, and to be competitive with the private sector with regard to LPN pay."

The Mayor thanked Deputy Mayor Robert M. Harding, Karen Bruce and her negotiating staff, Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley and his team, and HHC's President, Dr. Luis R. Marcos, M.D. and his staff for all of their efforts in reaching this Agreement.

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