Vineland Bishop McCarthy Center Nurses Unanimously Ratify Three-Year Contract with Retroactive Pay

About 20 Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses at Bishop McCarthy Center in Vineland voted unanimously to ratify a new three-year contract, an agreement announced in a JNESO press release dated Feb. 9, 2026. According to that release, "More than a year of meetings and bargaining have finally paid off for the nurses at Bishop McCarthy Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Vineland, N.J. Some 20 Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) represented by JNESO District Council 1, IUOE, AFL-CIO, voted unanimously to ratify a new 3-year contract."

The agreement calls for a 3% retroactive pay increase for 2025 and 2.25% wage increases effective January 2026 and January 2027, as spelled out in JNESO’s announcement. Those percentage increases are the only numeric wage terms published in the union’s summary of the pact for the JNESO bargaining unit at Bishop McCarthy Center.

Local reporting by SNJ added that the bargaining addressed internal pay disparities at the facility, noting, "During bargaining, compensation disparities within the facility were addressed. In certain instances, newly hired nurses were earning higher wages than existing staff. The contract adjusts base salaries for all nurses to the new-hire rates and brings them more in line with the market value of nursing care in the region." SNJ also reported the contract raises the pay rate for new hires while providing wage increases across the bargaining unit.

Bargaining over the JNESO nurses’ contract began in winter 2024 and lasted more than a year, with negotiations that "at times required mediation," according to SNJ and the Courier-Post. The union’s press release framed the outcome as the product of that extended bargaining process. The full signed contract has not been published alongside the press release, and its non-wage clauses were not detailed in the materials released so far.

Bishop McCarthy Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare is located at 1045 E. Chestnut Ave., Vineland, and is licensed for 182 beds, SNJ reported. The facility operates under the business name Vineland Operating LLC and is owned by Center Management Group of New York, which purchased the facility from the Diocese of Camden in late 2015 as part of a roughly $40 million transaction. SNJ noted that Center Management Group did not respond to a request for comment regarding the nurses’ agreement.

The nurses’ ratification follows a separate labor settlement for other Bishop McCarthy employees. UFCW Local 152 reported that over 80 of its members at the facility ratified a three-year contract on Oct. 23, 2024; that agreement included "Everyone with at least six months of service will receive a 3.5 percent general wage increase annually, retroactive to July 2024," a tiered longevity adjustment for employees with five or more years of service, and changes that lower the service length required to accrue vacation days.

Local reaction to the JNESO ratification ran across social media. A Courier-Post Facebook post about the story drew 282 reactions, 35 comments and 40 shares, with readers voicing both support and concerns about staffing and the facility. Commenters included Lisa Bravo, who wrote, "That’s great and they definitely deserve it but how about also hiring more nurses to handle their patients load cause they have a lot and revamping the facility because it’s definitely old and needs upgrades. A lot of upgrades!!" and Teresa Smith Kennedy, who asked, "What about their aides that work even harder." Another user, Karen Ann Gosik, posed the question, "Nurse/patient ratios?"

The union and facility have not released the complete contract text or an exact headcount for the JNESO bargaining unit beyond the press release’s "some 20" figure; requests for the full agreement, precise roster numbers and comment from Center Management Group remain outstanding.