(WATERTOWN, NEW YORK) - New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Nurses employed at the Samaritan Medical Center, the Carthage Area Hospital and the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center have voted overwhelmingly to ratify new four-year contracts.

Highlights of the contracts include: Improved health and pension benefits; Improved safe staffing language to protect patient care; Safeguards against Artificial Intelligence (AI); Protections from workplace violence; and Wage increases to recruit and retain enough Nurses to provide safe, quality care.  

Nurses at the Carthage Area Hospital and at the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center also won entry into the NYSNA Benefit Fund for the first time, which will provide health benefits to Nurses and their families at a greatly-reduced cost, beginning on July 1st (2026).  

After months of negotiations, Nurses were able to achieve contracts that protect patient care for their communities in the North Country, where decades of service reductions and hospital consolidations have led to a decline in access to safe, quality patient care.

Though these contracts are a victory for the Nurses and residents of Watertown, Carthage and Ogdensburg and beyond, there is yet more work to be done, Union Officials said.

NYSNA Members employed at four other North Country Hospitals - the Adirondack Medical Center, the UVM-Alice Hyde Medical Center, the UVM-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and the UVM-Elizabethtown Community Hospital, continue to bargain for fair contracts to protect patient care in their communities.  

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said: “For months, NYSNA Nurses in the North Country have been fighting for fair contracts that will improve access to care for patients in rural parts of New York State. Together, they were able to secure contracts that address their communities' greatest needs. These three, strong contracts will be a steppingstone to addressing the needs of the entire North Country and making sure that every North Country resident has access to the health care services they need.”

NYSNA Nurses and Health Care Professionals at the Adirondack Medical Center, the UVM-Alice Hyde Medical Center, the UVM-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital and the UVM-Elizabethtown Community Hospital remain in active bargaining in the North Country.

Across all seven Hospitals - including Samaritan, Carthage and Claxton-Hepburn, NYSNA Members are united for safe, quality care for all North Country patients.

NYSNA represents more than 42,000 Members across New York and is the State’s largest Union and Professional Association for Registered Nurses.

NYSNA is an Affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU) - the country's largest and fastest-growing Union and Professional Association of Registered Nurses, with more than 225,000 Members nationwide.

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