Which hospitals to recommend in NYC?

NurseKJ · Jan 30, 2011

Union vs non-union is sometimes a matter of political or personal preference, sometimes a matter of preferred benefits. When I first started I had no preference. I feel fortunate today that the hospital where I spent most of my career was a union (NYSNA) hospital because I was able to retire from full-time employment with a full pension at a young age. Now I can work for an agency (or wherever else) and have more freedom with vacation scheduling. There are nurses I have known for years working in a non-union hospital and, although they have a retirement fund, it is limited by the amount of money saved over the years (contribution-defined) so they must continue working for many more years to be sure they have enough to last the rest of their lives. My pension is benefit-defined so it will last for the rest of my life (in addition to my regular elective retirement plan that I contributed to every payday which is likely to run out at some point if I live very long). These kind of pension plans are disappearing in this country but they are still available with some union jobs in nursing. Another benefit is that the union negotiates all salary and working conditions and provides job security in case of lay-off.
I also worked for the VNS. The nurses were (I hope still are) represented by the NY State Teachers Association and that union did the same things as NYSNA, also in a professional way. (There are other unions I am less familiar with, such as 1199, but they are not considered "professional" by some nurses. That is, they may be strong worker advocates but it may not be patient-centered. NYSNA tends to be patient-centered.)
I also worked for New York Hospital (now New York Presbyterian) which is non-union. The pay scale is competitive and the nurses there were (I hope still are) very happy that they are non-union. I don't recall the nature of their retirement plan but it is, likely, a 401K-type fund that has hospital contribution.
There are advantages and disadvantages to working in both situations. It's good to know something about it. One obvious disadvantage in a union hospital is that you must pay union dues and they are going up all the time. One of the advantages is that the union negotiates compensation so you often get the best "total" package but what is "best" for one person may not be best for another. I know one nurse who is working in an NYSNA hospital and she has absolutely no need for any of their benefits. She doesn't need medical, dental, education, pension. She is a foreign-born nurse and will be leaving before she is vested so pension won't even apply. She has everything else she needs from her husband's employer. So, you need to see what's right for you.

NY lady,

Thanks for sharing that info. I didn't realize that union hospitals still did pension plans. Is that for all new hire nurses too? Do NPs get represented by the unions? Do the unions represent other staff (ie rad techs, pharmacists, etc)?

Thanks so much!

Guest27531 · Jan 30, 2011

Each hospital and each contract is different but I don't know of any contract that has different rules for newly hired nurses. They are in the contract and receive the same benefits as other nurses. Salary, tuition and continuing education benefits, health care benefits, and pension are the big ones. One reason it is hard to get people to talk about salary is because there are so many variables, so there is no one answer. There is a "base" salary to which you add - Education differentials, Certification differentials, Shift differentials, and the big one - Experience Differentials. At one hospital, for example, Experience Differential is $1,000/year of nursing experience up to a max of just under $30,000, after which there is a cash bonus on top.

Nurse Practitioners are covered in the contract. Other professions may be covered by the same union as the nurses or may be covered by another (or may not be in a bargaining unit at all).

If you are interested in the Pension Plan you need to ask about it. When St. Vincent's closed many of us discovered that even though the nurses were in the NYSNA bargaining unit, their contract did not include the NYSNA pension plan. Those nurses were left with nothing. I shuttered because St. Vincent's was my first nursing school and I almost went to work there. If I had, I probably would have stayed my career there. I felt so badly for them.

NYC Hospitals used to be a good choice because their benefit package after retirement was excellent, including health care. That may have already changed or may be changing due to the financial crisis. Here is the Web site for Health and Hospitals Corp. http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/facilities/map.shtml

Hope this info is helping you. In this time of job shortages, you may not have the same freedom to choose but it's still good to know there are differences.

boston HD · Jan 31, 2011

NYlady, thank you so much for all of this advise, this is the first time i am really applying for jobs and have to take different things into concideration because i got hired for the job i have now before i even graduated. im looking foward on applying to the NYC hospitals and pray for an interview. anything else you could think about, about any of the Manhatten hospitals will be great, thank you again for all of your advise.

Day821na · Mar 11, 2011

I am actually about to take a travel position at Metropolitan Hospital. Can anyone tell me any information on this hospital? If they like it? Thanks

pattycake · Aug 30, 2011

I'M LOOKING FOR A PSYCH POSITION....anyone know which hospitals in westchester county or NYC hiring???

thanks...:redbeathe

HIPAA · Dec 7, 2011

There are no good or bad hospitals in NYC, just good or bad floors (and that can change quickly).

asiaric94 · Jun 10, 2014

That is correct. North Central Bronx shares the same building as Montefiore, just on the other side. Montefiore is private; North Central is HHC, and connected to Jacobi Hospital, also HHC, and an incredible Level 1 trauma center. North central is a level 2

dianearc, BSN, RN · Dec 21, 2018

NYlady, thank you so much for all of this advise, this is the first time i am really applying for jobs and have to take different things into concideration because i got hired for the job i have now before i even graduated. im looking foward on applying to the NYC hospitals and pray for an interview. anything else you could think about, about any of the Manhatten hospitals will be great, thank you again for all of your advise.

Im just seeing this thread and NYlady was really great in her descriptions. I know this is an old post but I am enlightened. I'm starting my 2nd year of nursing as of Jan 2019. I was on a general surgery floor for the first year and starting Jan I'll be on an oncology/hematology floor. I moved from the NYC area to western NY (closer to Toronto, CA) to work for the top magnet hospitals in this area & grow my experience, as it was difficult to find work in the top NYC hospitals without experience. I declined a high paying LTC and physician office job both in midtown manhattan (as a new grad) and moved just so I could get hospital experience and at this moment I feel like I made a good decision. I plan on completing 2yrs here, getting certified as soon as I hit that 2yr mark, then relocating back to NYC. So I am being really patient. I am also starting to do my research now so I could be prepared when the time comes. Any updates on your findings (in terms of best pension plans/benefits and unionized hospitals in NYC/Manhattan)? Did you eventually get a job in NYC? If so, what tips would you suggest and how was the interview and hiring process if applicable?