Three of New York�s biggest hospital systems have reached a tentative agreement with nurses.

The New York Times says the four-year contract agreement reached on Tuesday would affect the Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore hospital systems.

It calls for annual pay raises of 3%, filling about 800 vacant nursing jobs, and spending $25 million a year to hire additional nurses.

A dispute over staffing levels had spurred about 10,000 nurses to threaten a strike .

Anthony Ciampa of the New York State Nurses Association says nurse representatives would meet with managers within a month after ratification to set minimum staffing levels for each hospital unit, based on the number of patients treated there.

The hospitals� lead negotiator, Marc Kramer, says the �significant investment� in nurses will benefit patients.

(AP)