State employed nurses continue to fight for a fair contract to replace the one that expired on June 30, 2003. Members have been without a raise since that expiration. One central issue to the negotiations is the Union’s wage proposal linking private sector pay rates to their own. The State’s proposal does not recognize the higher wage rates or higher wage increases paid to private sector nurses since June 30, 2003. For example, the State has proposed a total wage increase of 14% over five years while RI Hospital wages rose 23% over the same time period. The Union will not settle a contract with a wage package that places state-employed nurses below a fair market pay rate.