NY Nurse Spring 2024

nurse New York

spring 2024

Ellis/Bellevue Nurses Refuse to Be Intimidated p. 4

Healthcare Workers Unite for Safe Staffing, p. 6

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New York Nurse spring 2024

Our Week, Our Future

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By Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN NYSNA President

Advocating for patients. Advancing the profession.SM Board of Directors President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN nancy.hagans@nysna.org First Vice President Judith Cutchin, , DNP, RN, MSN judith.cutchin@nysna.org Second Vice President Marion Enright, RN marion.enright@nysna.org Secretary Nella Pineda-Marcon, RN, BC nella.pineda-marcon@nysna.org Treasurer Jayne L. Cammisa, RN, BSN jayne.cammisa@nysna.org Directors at Large Marie Boyle, RN, BSN marie.boyle@nysna.org Seth B. Dressekie, RN, MSN, PMHNP, BC seth.dressekie@nysna.org Flandersia Jones, RN, BSN, MPH flandersia.jones@nysna.org Michelle Jones, RN, MSN, ANP-C michelle.jones@nysna.org Sonia M. Lawrence, RN, BSN sonia.lawrence@nysna.org Benny K. Mathew, RN, MS, CCRN, CEN, SCRN benny.mathew@nysna.org Ari Moma, RN, MSA ari.moma@nysna.org Jean Erica Padgett, RN jean.padgett@nysna.org Regional Directors Southeastern

Christopher Honor, RN, BSN,CAPA christopher.honor@nysna.org Southern Aretha Morgan, RN, MSN aretha.morgan@nysna.org Catherine Dawson,RN,CNOR,MSN Central catherine.dawson@nysna.org Lower Hudson/NJ Margaret Franks, RN margaret.franks@nysna.org Western John Batson, RN john.batson@nysna.org Eastern Bill Schneider, RN, CCRN bill.schneider@nysna.org Editor Kristi Barnes Executive Editor Pat Kane, RN, CNOR Executive Director Editorial offices located at: 131 W 33rd St., New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-785-0157 Email: nynurse@nysna.org Website: www.nysna.org Subscription rate: $33 per year ISSN (Print) 1934-7588/ISSN (Online) 1934-7596 ©2023, All rights reserved

YSNA nurses celebrated Nurses Week beginning May 6 and throughout the entire month.

I always feel proud to be a nurse, but this time of year is a good opportunity to reflect even more on what brought me to the profession — and why I’m still here.

Nurses Make the Difference I’ve always felt called to be a caregiver and an advocate, but it has really been my fellow nurses, my colleagues and my union siblings who have fueled my passion for nursing and kept me in the profession for more than 30 years.

It has been the amazing NYSNA nurses who make a difference every day. It has been seeing you advocate for patients — even when it means standing up to management bullies.

It has been seeing you get involved in the community and speak out for health equity and justice. It has been seeing you give so much of your time to get involved in our workplaces, our union and our democracy — even when I know that you’re working overtime and juggling personal and family commitments.

In short, I draw my inspiration and my own extra efforts from the solidarity I feel with NYSNA nurses and nurses everywhere who face so many of the same struggles as we do. In my position as National Nurses United co-president, connecting with nurses all over the country and the world, I have really experienced this sense of a shared struggle. The need to come together as nurses is more urgent than ever before.

New York City Council Health Committee Chair Mercedes Narcisse, RN, dropped by the Maimonides Medical Center Nurses Week celebration.

services, healthcare disparities, and higher healthcare prices for everyone. And profit-driven healthcare continues to present new challenges like artificial intelligence, which is a growing threat to the future of our practice and patients.

Writing Our Own Future Despite our industry’s challenges, I am confident that nurses can and will write our own future.

Private equity firms and Silicon Valley investors may say they are

Be Proud

When Nurses Unite I know that when nurses unite, we have achieved what others told us was impossible. From last year’s contract victories for public and private sector nurses to boldly building on our victories this year to making gains on safe staffing to saving essential healthcare services, we nurses have achieved so much.

But we know the challenges we face are tremendous. The onslaught of profit-driven healthcare continues to affect us all. It has contributed to understaffing, grueling working conditions, lower-quality care for our patients, hospital consolidation and cuts to healthcare

the future of healthcare. They may be trying to be in the driver’s seat of healthcare, but it is nurses who do the work. We are the ones with the knowledge, expertise, care and compassion to influence the future of healthcare. We are the ones who are the patient advocates and will continue to fight to steer healthcare in the right direction — toward safety and respect for healthcare workers and universal quality care for all. There is no future of healthcare without nurses — our labor and our voice.

Presenting on the dangers of artificial intelligence to nurses and all workers at the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, AFL-CIO convention in May.

NYSNA nurses will continue to push the envelope for safe staffing, using every tactic available to advocate for nurse and patient safety. We will continue to fight and win great contracts that respect nurses and our patients. We will organize more nurses, because all nurses deserve a voice at work. And we will take on any new challenges that come our way.

I hope you got some time to do your own reflection this Nurses Week about what it means to you to be a nurse. I also hope this Nurses Week made you feel proud to be a nurse and a part of a movement of nurses working to improve the lives of our coworkers, patients and communities. I hope you are proud to be a member of NYSNA and a part of the most trusted profession.

Congratulations for everything you do on behalf of your patients and profession — this Nurses Week and always.

NEW YORK NURSE spring 2024

Healthcare Justice Is Social Justice

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he fights for our profession, our patients and our communities are all interconnected. Members sometimes ask me why NYSNA nurses are involved in racial justice, climate justice or gender justice, for example. They wonder what these issues have to do with nursing. I tell them that these fights are inseparable from our fights for healthcare justice.

When I was at the bedside, I saw patients come in sicker because they lacked access to primary care.

Or they lived in an area burdened by decades of heavy pollution and high rates of asthma. Or previous healthcare providers had dismissed or discounted their pain. The problems that exist in the wider world drive the health disparities and poor health outcomes we see inside our healthcare facilities.

As a nurse, I know I have the responsibility to advocate for my patients — at the bedside and beyond. That’s more than standard preventative or primary care — it includes addressing patients’ social determinants of health. People cannot truly heal and thrive unless their underlying living conditions are addressed.

The same goes for nurses. Just as nurses have an ethical duty to others, we have a duty to self. If we struggle to pay our bills, if we strug-

gle to be safe at work, if we struggle for respect at work, we are not really thriving. Our collective fight for good contracts and working conditions to improve the lives of our members — approximately 90% of whom are women — is also a fight for healthcare justice and social justice.

As part of the broader movement for social, economic and racial justice, we have made progress in advancing healthcare justice and protecting human rights and our environment. Many of the positive changes we have advocated for have been made concrete by lawmakers who listened to their constituReflecting on the Past and Future ents and their consciences. When NYSNA nurses have engaged in Nurses have a unique position electoral politics, it has been to supin society to make a difference in port candidates who care — and peoples’ lives. As caregivers in the candidates with a record of supmost trusted profession, we learn porting nurses, working families from day one how to advocate. and the labor movement.

We learn how to observe, gather However, progress is not inevievidence and put a care plan into table — we must move it forward place. When we unite as union nurses, we can use our skills, our voices or other forces will move it backand our power to create a care plan ward. The hard-fought gains we have made are under attack. 2024 on a much larger scale to address the root causes of the problems our is a critical election year. There are elected officials and candidates who communities face. promise to roll back the clock on When I look at the actions healthcare access, women’s rights, NYSNA nurses have taken recently workers’ rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, — from fighting to preserve inpatient mental healthcare and maternal the environment and more. We cannot allow that to happen. care to advocating for Black lives I hope to see more of our and health equity, green roofs to members getting involved and reduce our carbon footprint and volunteering their time and voices healthcare for all — I am proud this election year. If we want a that this work is at the core of our brighter future for our profession mission as a social justice union. and our patients, we must continue Commemorating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, to fight to make it happen. Nurses Pride Month and Juneteenth helps us are already part of this fight, and remember we are all unique and also when we unite, we truly can make a difference. all in this together.

By Pat Kane, RN NYSNA Executive Director

When we unite as union nurses, we can use our skills, our voices and our power to create a care plan on a much larger scale to address the root causes of the problems our communities face.

Rallying for racial justice outside NYC H+H/Bellevue.

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ellis contract fight

New York Nurse spring 2024

Ellis/Bellevue Nurses Refused to Be Intimidated in Their Fight for Patient Safety

N Ellis/Bellevue nurses picket on April 16.

urses throughout New York have seen this story play out multiple times across the state: A healthcare corporation buys or merges with a community hospital, resulting in cuts to healthcare services, “consolidation” (more cuts) of resources, chronic understaffing, and less investment in recruiting and retaining nurses and healthcare workers. In short, it’s a recipe for disaster for nurses and patients.

When Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Woman’s Center entered a merger agreement with St. Peter’s Health Partners in December 2021, an arm of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Catholic hospital corporations, Trinity Health, NYSNA nurses feared for their patients and their community.1 Their concerns were proven right when, in 2022, Ellis Medicine paused overnight emergent care services at the Clifton Park location and abruptly closed the inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit for six months with two days’ notice, causing the New York State’s Office of Mental Health to get involved.2

Bargaining for Their Community

Dozens of allies called on Ellis to settle a fair contract. Read the letter at bit.ly/ellissolidarity

Sources 1. https://www.timesunion.com/news/ article/N-Y-touts-liberal-abortion-lawsbut-17327885.php 2. https://www.news10.com/news/ schenectady-county/ellis-hospitalsyouth-mental-health-unit-remainsclosed-worrying-local-advocates/

When nurses’ contract expired in 2023, they saw an opportunity to ensure their new contract protected patients by making investing in safe patient care a top priority. They also fought back against service closures at another St. Peter’s facility, the Burdett Birth Center in Troy. Nurses from Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Woman’s Center spoke out against this closure at various community forums and sounded the alarm about the impact the closure would have for reproductive and maternal

care in the capital region. In April 2024, St. Peter’s announced Burdett would remain open — a victory for nurses, the community and reproductive healthcare.

At the bargaining table, however, Ellis management continued to drag out contract negotiations — actually proposing a decrease in nurse staffing.

Ellis/Bellevue nurses knew they needed the community’s support and began organizing outside their facilities. Nurses garnered support by leafletting local businesses, attending Schenectady City Council meetings, and calling on labor and community allies to join them at an informational picket on April 16.

Nurses Speak Out and Fight Back Hundreds of Ellis/Bellevue nurses and fellow capital region NYSNA nurses from Albany Medical Center and Nathan Littauer Hospital attended the picket alongside local labor, elected, and community leaders, including the Capital District Area Labor Federation, New York State United Teachers, New York State Council of Churches, NYS Labor Religion Coalition, Black Nurses Coalition, Assembly Member Angelo Santabarbara, and Schenectady County Legislator Michelle Ostrelich.

The clear display of power and solidarity galvanized nurses to continue fighting for the contract they deserve. Ellis management responded by failing to offer meaningful proposals and instead resorted to threatening nurses for exercising their union rights. In May, Ellis began sending several messages claiming it has been forced to limit access to the hospital due to “safety” concerns, increasing security to

prevent members from speaking to each other about their rights. They also accused nurses of “bullying” their peers, even asking them to leave hospital premises while they were speaking to co-workers during their breaks. NYSNA nurses fought back against these outrageous claims and unlawful behavior and have filed unfair labor practice charges against Ellis management for breaking federal labor law and interfering with their rights.

Nurses have a message for Ellis management: Nurses are patient advocates, not bullies! This became clear in late May when, in a huge victory for Ellis nurses, a New York State arbitrator found that Ellis has consistently and pervasively failed to follow the safe staffing standards stipulated in the NYSNA contract. The arbitrator ordered Ellis to compensate nurses working in units affected by short staffing whose workloads significantly increased because of the hospital’s violations. This marked the first time a neutral, third-party arbitrator has awarded financial restitution for hospital understaffing to NYSNA nurses in an upstate New York hospital.

Management’s attempt to intimidate and silence nurses was met with nurses uniting more than ever to fight for safe staffing and the fair contract that nurses and their patients deserve. On May 28, nurses announced the result of their strike vote, with 94% voting to approve a three-day unfair labor practice strike, if necessary. After a week of intense negotiations, Ellis/Bellevue nurses won a new contract with no givebacks and with significant wage increases and hiring and retention incentives. When we fight, we win!

NEW YORK NURSE spring 2024

Staten Island University Hospital Nurses Fight and Win

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n October 2023, nurses at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH)/Northwell launched a campaign to demand a fair contract with safe staffing and respectful wages that kept nurses in Staten Island. After experiencing high turnover and nurses leaving Staten Island to work in other facilities in New York City, SIUH nurses knew they had to fight for wages that kept up with the rising cost of living and that were comparable with other New York City hospitals.

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I live on Staten Island. I was born here. This is my community. I don’t want to have to leave the island for work.”

Building on Our Successes The issues nurses faced at their facility were not new but an accumulation of years of understaffing and lack of investment in patient care. Since Northwell took over SIUH in 2016, the Northwell empire and executive salaries grew, while nurses’ wages stagnated.

SIUH-Northwell nurses recently witnessed other NYSNA New York City nurses fighting for and winning fair contracts with significant wage increases and improved safe staffing. They also began to witness their colleagues leaving Staten Island for better compensation and working conditions in those facilities. SIUH nurses launched a contract campaign demanding that Northwell treat SIUH nurses with the same respect.

SIUH-Northwell nurse Shayna Lehrer, RN, said, “I live on Staten Island. I was born here. This is my community. I don’t want to have to leave the island for work. But in the short time I’ve been a nurse, I’ve seen our morale driven to the ground, and I’ve seen nurses like me burn out and leave. After just 1.5 years, I am one of the most senior nurses in my unit. Instead of making changes to support and retain its nurses, Northwell continues to ask us to do more with less. We’re not only asked to do our jobs, we’re also asked to be patient care assistants, pharmacists and housekeepers, because we don’t have enough staff. We barely even have time to use the bathroom during our shift and it’s not sustainable.”

Nurses rose to the challenge, galvanizing their colleagues and building unity in their facility. They wore

– Shayna Lehrer, RN

NYSNA nurses announced strike vote results on March 13.

NYSNA red on Fridays and started filling out strike pledge cards, eventually deciding to vote for a strike after seeing little progress at the bargaining table.

Nurses Build Support and Escalate Their Campaign During their contract fight, SIUH nurses won the support of 26 major labor unions, who signed a joint solidarity letter.

The letter signers, which included the Communications Workers of America, 32BJ Service Employees International Union, DC37 American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees and Teamsters Local 804 called on Northwell to settle a fair contract with nurses and to protect care for Staten Island. They also won the backing of 24 elected leaders who signed on to a separate letter calling on Northwell to settle a fair contract with nurses.

On March 13, nurses held a speak-out in front of the hospital and announced that they had voted in favor of authorizing a strike by over 97%. The strike authorization vote came on the heels of overwhelming strike votes at other NYSNA-represented facilities,

including most recently Northwell Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, Peconic Bay Medical Center and South Shore University Hospital on Long Island. Those Northwell hospitals settled fair contracts with NYSNA nurses and averted strikes.

After marathon bargaining sessions and a strike deadline looming, so did SIUH.

When We Fight, We Win SIUH nurses won a tentative agreement that increased their wages by over 22 % over three years and included annual pay increases, market adjustment pay, experience pay, safe staffing, and retiree health benefits improvements. The members then voted by over 93% in favor of ratifying a new union contract.

The 1,300 nurses at SIUH/ Northwell were ready to do whatever it takes — including going on strike — for safe staffing and respect. By remaining unified and committed to fighting for their community, they averted a strike and won a victory for safe staffing standards that will enable more Staten Island nurses to stay at SIUH and more Staten Island patients to receive quality care.

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political power tk

New York Nurse spring 2024

National Nurses United Election Results National Nurses United (NNU) has completed its union elections for the Council of Presidents, vice presidents and convention delegates. NYSNA would like to congratulate President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, on her election to serve once again as one of NNU’s co-presidents.

Four NYSNA members were elected to serve as NNU vice presidents, and 39 delegates from NYSNA have been elected to serve a three-year term in office and will represent our union at the NNU Convention that will take place Sept. 23-25, 2024, in New Orleans.

Congratulations to the NYSNA-NNU members who participated in the election and who were elected!

Council of Presidents: Jamie Brown, president of Michigan Nurses Association Nancy Hagans, president of New York State Nurses Association Cathy Kennedy, president of California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing Committee Mary Turner, member of Minnesota Nurses Association Vice Presidents: Michelle Jones Bill Schneider Flandersia Jones Judith Cutchin Delegates: Marie Ann Boyle, Loretta Palermo, John Bernard Batson, Sonia Marie Lawrence, Jill E. Toledo, Jennifer Lynn Brinkworth, Catherine M. Dawson, Petar Lovric, Margaret Franks, Pauline Jennifer Wallace, Lona J. DeNisco, Sharon T. Bedford, Jacqueline Phillips, Melissa Diaz, Christopher M. Honor, Roslyn Beverly Cox, Alizia Denise McMyers, Aretha Regina Morgan, Vivienne C. Phillips, Victoria Davis-Courson, Nella Pineda-Marcon, Mary-Lynn Boyts Diedre N. Gilkes, Shawntres Marie Currin, Denash L. Forbes, Ari Moma, Marion Janet Enright, Dalia Feana Branford, Marie Enide Previl, Monley Adams, Flandersia Paxcillia Jones, Taneca Vanesh Smith, Shawn Liane Baker, Marina Theresa Anne Alexander, Tommiel Toliver, Anantha R. Reddy, Viviene M. Brown, Gueldye Beaubrun, Oluranti A. Adeoshun

Healthcare Workers Unite for Safe Staffing

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undreds of nurses and healthcare professionals across seven different healthcare unions came together in Albany on Monday, May 13, to call on the New York State Department of Health (DOH) to aggressively enforce the safe staffing law.

During Multi-Union Lobby Day, union members met with legislators and sounded the alarm on rampant understaffing despite the passage of the 2021 Clinical Staffing Committee Law. They also demanded that hospitals be held accountable for failing to meet safe staffing standards.

Seven Unions Speak Out “Patient safety should be everyone’s priority, but hospitals are violating our safe staffing laws, putting patients at risk,” said Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, NYSNA president and National Nurses United (NNU) co-president. “The nurses, healthcare workers and the unions representing them are all speaking out in one united voice to say it’s time for New York to enforce our safe staffing laws,” said Hagans.

Healthcare professionals from CWA District 1, 1199SEIU, PEF, DC37, NYSUT, and UFT rallied alongside NYSNA members.

Elected officials — including Senator Gustavo Rivera and Assembly Members Amy Paulin, Harry Bronson and Phara Souffrant Forrest — joined the

press conference to amplify our demands.

Nurses and healthcare workers will continue to lead as patient advocates to hold employers as well as state institutions accountable for following and enforcing safe staffing laws so patients can get the quality care they deserve.

2024 State Budget Highlights

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YSNA successfully advocated for nurses’ priorities in this year’s state budget — and the legislative session is not over yet!

NYSNA members teamed up with our labor and community allies to tell the governor and state legislature to protect New Yorkers’ healthcare.

In the state budget, our advocacy successfully: l Increased healthcare funding, including Medicaid reimbursement rates, overall Medicaid funding, safety-net hospital funding, nursing home funding and funding to keep SUNY Downstate hospital open for care. l Beat back attacks on nursing scope of practice, including

defeating proposals for New York to join the Interstate Nurse Licensure Compact, a new medication aide title authorized to administer medications, EMS scope of practice expansion and hospital-at-home expansion. l Extended the Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act to allow senior nurse practitioners to practice independently. l Preserved COVID-19 leave for all workers. l Improved Tier 6 pension benefits for public sector nurses and other workers, including increasing pension payments by improving the final average salary formula used to calculate payments.

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On May 18, NYSNA nurses joined our union siblings for a labor day of action to elect healthcare champions to Congress.

l Increased rights and supports for maternal care, including a new first-in-the-nation benefit for New Yorkers guaranteeing 20 hours of paid prenatal leave for pregnant workers, expansion of doula services and a new minimum requirement of 30 minutes of paid time for mothers to express breast milk at work. l Created a new nurse scholarship program for nurses pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in New York who commit to work in an underserved area for two years upon graduation.

Learn more and apply by June 24 at ny.gov/healthcareworkers.

This session, members have pushed hard to improve health equity and expand access to healthcare.

Stay tuned for more progress after the legislative session ends.

Nurses Push for National Change April and May were busy months for NYSNA and NNU member

leaders. They participated in the NNU Federal Legislative Conference on April 29 and several virtual lobby visits to advocate for legislation that matters to nurses and healthcare workers.

During lobby visits, NYSNANNU nurses educated members of Congress about the impact of industry-manufactured staffing shortages and the unregulated use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare facilities throughout the country.

NYSNA members met with Representative Paul Tonko (NY20) and explained how the hospital industry is using the false narrative of a “nursing shortage” to propose interventions that will reduce labor costs and maximize profits, such as AI, without regard for healthcare workers or safe patient care.

That is why it is imperative for nurses to advocate for patients by meeting with congressional representatives. Tonko — along with

NYSNA and 1199SEIU members met with Assembly Member Shelley Mayer.

newly elected NYSNA champion in Western New York, Rep. Tim Kennedy (NY-26), and NYSNAendorsed Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-5) and Rep. Pat Ryan (NY18) — all signed on as co-sponsors of the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, the federal safe staffing ratios bill.

As Congress looks to address the nurse staffing crisis, NYSNA nurses are asking their representatives to address the root problems that are leading thousands of registered nurses to leave the bedside. Nurses are making it clear that they don’t have a “nurse shortage” but that they do have a staffing crisis in their hospitals, brought on by the lack of good nursing jobs where nurses are valued for their work and have strong health and safety protections.

In addition to safe staffing legislation, NYSNA-NNU members also advocated for national legislation for workplace violence protection, the right to organize, Medicare for All and the rights of Veterans Administration nurses.

Nurses Get Out the Vote

2024

is a crucial election year with high stakes for nurses and healthcare professionals. For NYSNA to keep building political power and successfully advocating for better conditions for nurses and our patients and communities, we cannot afford to sit out these elections.

Early voting in New York’s primary elections began on June 15, and NYSNA members turned out to get out the vote for candidates who support nurses, unions and healthcare justice. Nurses knocked on doors of union members in key election districts and hit the phones to remind members to vote nurses’ values. For our list of endorsements, visit www.nysna.org/ endorsements.

The primary on June 25 is only the beginning of making our voices heard at the ballot box. Here are key dates to keep in mind for the general election.

General Election Key Dates Oct. 26: voter registration deadline.

Oct. 26-Nov. 3: early voting.

Nov. 5: Election Day.

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New York Nurse

nurses week

spring 2024

NYSNA Nurses Celebrate Nurse

NYSNA nurses celebrated Nurses Week in over 150 facilities in every p an incredible year of contract victories, NYSNA nurses gathered to cele

New

Lincoln Hospital

York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez; New York Assembly Member Steven Raga; Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson; and New York City Council Members Carmen DeLaRosa, Amanda Farias, Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson, Lincoln Restler, Lynn Schulman and Julie Won; and more joined nurses to recognize their hard work and celebrate nurses’ accomplishments. Gibson presented Health+Hospitals (H+H)/ Lincoln nurses, including NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council President Sonia Lawrence, RN, BSN, with a borough proclamation honoring National Nurses Week.

Together we’ll never stop advocating for safe staffing and the dignity and respect that nurses and our patients deserve!

Ellis Hospital

Northwell South Shore University Hospital

NYC H+H/ Harlem

Albany Medical Center

NYC H+H/ Kings County

Mount Sinai W

NEW YORK NURSE

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spring 2024

es Week!

part of the state. After ebrate as one union.

West

Montefiore Hutchinson Northwell Peconic Bay

Vassar Brothers Medical Center

We should celebrate Nurses Week because it’s a moment to acknowledge our achievements as nurses and let others know what we do. It’s a great time to celebrate together, and we should take pride in it.”

– Michaelle JimenezDolne, RN, FNP, NYC Health+Hospitals/ Kings County

HealthAlliance Hudson Valley

St. Catherine of Siena

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Wyckoff Heights

St. Charles Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Children’s Hospital

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New York Nurse spring 2024

N ‘‘

This could not have happened without the effort of all the nurses of the ER. Everything they did absolutely made a difference. I really appreciate the teamwork from all of NYSNA to win better conditions for nurses and our patients.”

– Alissa Morgulis, RN, "Maimonides emergency room nurse

Pushing the Envelope on Safe Staffing YSNA nurses are on the frontlines of patient advocacy — using several different tactics to achieve safe staffing in our facilities. From making our voices heard at Lobby Day to tracking staffing as staffing captains to participating in clinical staffing committees to submitting complaints to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) to using contractual language to hold hospitals accountable for safe staffing, nurse advocacy is making a difference.

Here are just a few ways nurses are taking action and winning safer staffing around the state.

Albany Medical Center in the Spotlight Albany Medical Center nurses have been speaking out about unsafe staffing conditions in the hospital, particularly in critical care units. In February, they hosted a town hall meeting that community and labor allies attended that outlined their concerns about safe staffing and how Albany Med’s constant push to expand and consolidate was harming quality care in the capital region.

Ahead of the Multi-Union Lobby Day, the Albany Times Union interviewed Albany Med nurses and featured them in a story, prompting the editorial board to write an editorial titled “The Unhealthy State of Care” that concluded, “If there’s one issue on which labor, management and the state ought to be on the same side, it’s this: New Yorkers deserve quality care. To achieve that, nurses must be able to perform at the standards they know patients need. The safe staffing mandate cannot be the end of the state’s efforts here.”

At Multi-Union Lobby Day, Albany Med neonatal intensive care nurse Jen Kiehle, RN, who had submitted several staffing complaints to the state, said: “We are asking the Department of Health to enforce the staffing laws that we have in place now, that we fought very hard for. We’ve been submitting complaints for the Department of Health, asking them to come and investigate, just to enforce the law, and we haven’t heard a peep from them.”

Albany Med is in the hot seat as one of the worst offenders of the

Albany Medical Center nurse Jen Kiehle, RN, speaks out about NICU understaffing.

staffing law. Nurses began bargaining for a new contract at the hospital and will continue to escalate their campaign for safe staffing and a fair contract.

Arbitrators Order Mount Sinai to Add More Nurses Over the past year, arbitrators have issued 16 arbitration awards and awarded a total of over $4 million to nurses for violations of the staffing standards in their collective bargaining agreements. In the most recent award in May, ambulatory surgery nurses at Mount Sinai West were awarded nearly $240,000 as a “make whole” remedy because of the persistent pattern of staffing violations from January 2023 to February 2024. The arbitrator also ordered Mount Sinai to staff to safe staffing standards. Congratulations to the nurses who diligently filed protest of assignment forms and bravely testified at the hearing.

Overall, the strong enforcement pressure is making a difference.

Mount Sinai has picked up its pace of hiring, and most nurses report that staffing has improved compared to last year.

Maimonides Emergency Department Nurses Win 17 New Permanent Positions Nurses in the emergency department (ED) at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn were at the end of their rope, working chronically understaffed and worrying about patient safety. They took action to change things by filing a staffing grievance. Using the new expedited mediation language in their

latest contract, they were able to quickly meet with mediators. After three sessions where the mediator listened to heartfelt testimony and examined evidence, he ordered the hospital to hire 17 new fulltime registered nurses in the ED. Overall, the hospital will invest $2.55 million more in staffing each year to uphold safe staffing standards in the ED. The mediator also agreed that Maimonides must offer an overtime incentive program to facilitate safe staffing as hiring continues to ramp up.

This is a major win for nurses and patients and demonstrates that it’s possible to maximize union contract language to hold hospitals accountable for safe staffing — even safety-net hospitals.

DOH Investigation at Vassar Instigates Change Vassar Brothers Medical Center nurses tracked staffing for more than a year and submitted dozens of complaints to the New York State DOH, spurring a boots-onthe-ground investigation. DOH investigators found that the hospital violated New York’s safe staffing law and ordered Vassar to submit a detailed plan of correction.

The plan requires Vassar to: l Include NYSNA Executive Committee members on the staffing committee. l Release members to participate in the committee. l Adopt better staffing standards on dialysis and cardiac step-down units, which were being staffed like less-acute medical-surgical units. Create a system to report

safe staffing and track staffing complaints. l Publicly post plans and daily staffing data. l Meet staffing standards in the eight units investigated by hiring more nurses and adding 10 full-time employees to the float pool and a fifth registered nurse residency program to help fill vacancies.

NYSNA nurses are encouraged by the investigation and watching closely to make sure Vassar follows through. They intend to start tracking staffing more closely in other problem units at Vassar.

Christina Evans, RN, who works in Vassar’s nephrology unit, said: “When you’re on the unit every day, you see how understaffing leads to patients not getting the level of care they deserve and more nurses to leave the unit. Retention is so hard when our ratios are usually one nurse to seven patients — even worse on nights — instead of one nurse to five patients. In my unit, patient acuity is very high, and we have very heavy medication passes throughout the day.

We need to improve our safe staffing standards and hire more nurses. Tracking staffing data can make a difference, and we continue to track it in case we need to file more complaints.

We’re moving in the right direction, but we need to keep chipping away at the problem.”

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spring 2024

NewYork-Presbyterian CTICU Nurses Win First Arbitration Award with Financial Remedies On May 22, 2024, an arbitrator ruled in NewYorkPresbyterian (NYP) NYSNA nurses’ favor in a staffing dispute and, for the first time at that hospital, awarded financial remedies to nurses who worked understaffed.

Nurses in the cardio-thoracic intensive care unit (CTICU) testified about chronic understaffing in the unit throughout 2023.

The arbitrator awarded them over $270,000 to compensate for an unreasonable workload on shifts that were significantly understaffed. Although NYP argued strenuously that financial remedies were not warranted, the arbitrator disagreed and also directed the hospital “to continue its efforts to recruit and retain sufficient nurses to staff the CTICU in accordance with the grid.”

CTICU nurses are happy to report that staffing on the unit has improved in 2024, and they are hopeful that this ruling will help ensure that NYP always adheres to safe staffing standards. Our patients deserve no less!

Westchester Med Nurses Make Staffing Committee Work Westchester Medical Center nurses are demonstrating that clinical staffing committees can be collaborative

Maimonides nurses win more nurse staffing in the ED.

and successfully address hospital staffing issues.

Since the committees began, Westchester Med nurses have implemented safe staffing standards in all inpatient units, something that did not exist in their contract. Each year, they have reviewed staffing data, including protest of assignment forms, and complaints with management and made progress on improving staffing. The hospital has hired over 200 new full-time nurses, and many nurses report they can feel the difference on their unit.

In December, intensive care unit nurses filed staffing complaints, detailing a year’s worth of data, and the DOH responded, prompting the hospital to pick up the pace of hiring in these units. As July approaches, nurses from all over the state have the opportunity to improve upon the staffing standards in their hospital’s staffing plan. Westchester Med nurses are already hard at work seeking better standards in four units — with the evidence to validate their request. They are also advocating for their frontline colleagues, urging Westchester Med to hire more patient care technicians to ensure they can deliver quality care.

“Our nurses deserve so much credit for always participating in staffing committee meetings and coming prepared with the facts, including acuity, because as a Level 1 Trauma Center, our patient acuity is high,” explained Merima Lynch, RN, Westchester Med local bargaining unit president.

“Because of our union, nurses have a voice and feel empowered to speak up.

Our success is also because we have a new chief nursing officer who actually listens to the nurses and shares our goal of safe staffing. ICU and stepdown units are improving. Staffing is a work in progress. We have many new nurses going through

orientation right now. We look forward to continuing to make progress and making safe staffing a reality in every unit!”

Congratulations to Westchester Med nurses for the hard work and collaboration and to all NYSNA members who are working this summer on creating the highest standards of care for our patients.

NYC Health+Hospitals Hires 1,000 Nurses Since Contract Victory Since New York City public sector nurses won a new contract with safe staffing and pay parity last summer, NYC Health+Hospitals(H+H)/ Mayorals has increased hiring and retention, bringing the entire system closer to safe staffing.

During the contract campaign, nurses pointed to terrible retention and the outrageous amount the system was spending on temporary travel nurses.

They argued that bringing public sector nurse salaries up to par with private sector nurse salaries would stop the hemorrhage of nurses leaving H+H for the private sector and reduce overreliance on expensive temps.

They were right.

In addition to hiring over 1,000 nurses and bringing the total number of nurses up to pre-COVID-19 levels, H+H created over 200 new positions for wound care and float pool nurses to fill staffing gaps and improve quality care. Recently, members have been meeting with management in systemwide staffing committee meetings to review vacancies and set safe staffing standards in more and more units.

“NYC Health+Hospitals/ Mayorals is showing that hospitals can hire and retain nurses when they are committed to safe staffing and pay equity,” said Alizia McMyers, RN, MSN, MHA, the vice presi-

Sharing staffing data at a Westchester Med staffing committee meeting.

dent of the NYSNA NYC H+H/Mayorals Executive Council. “Since we negotiated better pay and staffing in our last union contract, city hospitals have been able to increase the pace of nurse hiring and reduce turnover and reliance on temporary staff. Nurses are proud to be part of the progress being made in the largest public health system in the country and proud to deliver quality care to all New Yorkers.”

Montefiore Labor and Delivery Nurses Win Arbitration Labor and delivery (L&D) nurses are the latest NYSNA members at Montefiore to win a staffing arbitration.

Nurses from both day and night shifts in this high-risk unit testified about the acuity of their patients, how assignments are made for the different areas of the unit, and the abysmal staffing levels that they frequently work with. Although they bargained for a staffing level of 15 nurses for the day and night shifts, they demonstrated that the hospital rarely had 15 nurses on the schedule, let alone working a shift.

The arbitrator ordered financial remedies for nurses who worked on the understaffed shifts from July, 2023 through January, 2024, and ordered the hospital to hire and staff sufficient nurses.

Congratulations to L&D nurses for advocating for patient safety for high-risk mothers in the Bronx!

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around our union

New York Nurse spring 2024

NYSNA Joins Event to Honor Black Angels

Mount Sinai Eye and Ear Nurses Speak Out for a Fair Contract

I N

YSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, and NYSNA Executive Director Pat Kane, RN, CNOR, attended an event in NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H)/Harlem to honor Virginia Allen, LPN. Allen is a nursing legend and one of the last living “Black Angels,” nurses who broke racial barriers and risked their lives to care for tuberculosis patients and administer clinical trials that made medical history. This event comes shortly after NYSNA nurses celebrated Allen and the Black Angels exhibit at the Staten Island Museum. Allen was also recognized with a DAISY Lifetime Achievement Award this spring.

These events brought together many of the descendants and family members of the Black Angels to celebrate their contribution to healthcare history.

New Nurse Practitioner Training Program Launched at Montefiore

Victory in Push to Build Brooks Hospital Now

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n March 19, NYSNA nurses and 1199 Service Employees International Union healthcare workers held a packed town hall with community members and elected officials to demand New York state build a new community hospital in upstate New York. In 2016, New York state approved these funds but has yet to release them. Nurses and healthcare workers are tired of working in a crumbling building with broken elevators, leaky ceilings and freezing-cold rooms not suitable for healing and quality care. Nurses also spoke passionately about feeling that Albany lawmakers have forgotten the community and demanded lawmakers honor their commitment.

The event sent a strong message to the New York State Department of

Health and Governor Kathy Hochul that patients in rural New York deserve a state-of-the-art hospital.

It’s time to Build Brooks Now! On June 3, Governor Hochul responded and released $75 million in funding to build a new modern Brooks Memorial Hospital for the people of Northern Chautauqua County. NYSNA and 1199SEIU members attended the announcement on June 3. Heather Luce, RN, said, “Rural healthcare should not be valued less than healthcare anywhere else, and this funding ensures that the people and families that our state relies on for agriculture and industry can live here, thrive here, and have access to quality healthcare here.”

n the early morning on June 4, dozens of NYSNA nurses at Mount Sinia Eye and Ear spoke out for a fair contract for Sinai’s downtown nurses and community. Step by step, Mount Sinai administrators have divested from its downtown hospitals, Eye and Ear and Beth Israel. Eye and Ear nurses face crumbling infrastructure and wages that are far behind Mount Sinai’s other healthcare facilities.

Nurses spoke out at the infopicket and demanded that Sinai invest in quality care downtown.

Dozens of community and elected leaders weighed in to support NYSNA nurses.

“Mount Sinai has pushed services, pushed doctors, and is now pushing nurses away from Sinai Eye and Ear, creating an uncertain future for specialty care in the downtown community,” said local bargaining unit president John Paul Montemayor, RN. “They’ve told us that we’re lesser nurses than the other nurses who work in the Mount Sinai system, but we don’t accept that.

Sinai Eye and Ear nurses deserve respect, fair pay, safe staffing and a fair contract that guarantees a future for us and our patients.”

M

ontefiore Bronx nurses went on strike just over one year ago to win new contract language to reduce emergency department overcrowding and improve access to primary care for the Bronx community. Now Montefiore is implementing one of NYSNA’s hiring and retention initiatives — a 12-month postgraduate training program for NYSNA nurse practitioners (NPs). This rigorous program is geared toward NPs who have graduated over the last four years and who seek additional onthe-job training in primary care for complex populations, specifically in community-based health centers.

Congrats, Montefiore nurses!

Albany Medical Center Nurses are Ready to Bargain for a Fair Contract

O

n April 23, over 100 Albany Medical Center nurses showed up with energy to the first bargaining session for their new contract! Included in their demands are safe staffing, fair wages, affordable

health insurance and a strong union voice at work. With their contract action team in full effect, nurses are staying informed on the progress of their negotiation committee and are ready to win a contract they deserve.

Convention 2024

NEW YORK NURSE spring 2024

NYSNA Convention Oct. 29-30

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ark your calendars and get ready to meet fellow nurses and healthcare professionals from across New York on Oct. 29-30 in beautiful Saratoga Springs. Registration, delegate, transportation, lodging and class information will soon be available on our website at www.nysna.org/Convention.

The theme of this year’s Convention is We Are Unstoppable: Building Nurse Power for Our Patients, Profession, and the Future. We can’t wait to see you this year, celebrate our accomplishments, strategize about our priorities and participate in union democracy.

Bylaw Amendments Are Due Aug. 15, and Resolutions Are Due Sept. 29 The NYSNA Secretary must receive amendments to the NYSNA bylaws no later than Aug. 15 and resolutions by Sept. 29. Convention Delegates can mail proposed amendments to: New York State Nurses Association ATTN: NYSNA Secretary 131 W. 33rd St., 4th Fl New York, NY 10001

Or e-mail them to info@nysna. org with the subject line: “Bylaws Amendment.”

Convention Delegates can mail proposed resolutions to the same mailing address above or email resolutions to info@nysna.org with the subject line: “Resolution.”

For Convention Delegates who plan to mail bylaws or resolutions,

please write “NYSNA” and indicate whether it’s a bylaw amendment or resolution on the envelope.

We are looking forward to hearing your ideas and taking advantage of this year’s Convention to share, learn and strategize together as union siblings.

around our union NYSNA Hosts Paid Family Leave Townhall for NYC H+H Nurses

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s part of their contract, NYC H+H and Mayorals nurses won the right to join the New York State Paid Family Leave (PFL) program at any time, if they choose to do so. NYSNA has hosted several PFL virtual town halls for public-sector NYC H+H/

Mayorals members to collectively make this important decision since December 2023. Educational sessions at the beginning of each town hall provide information on PFL and explain who is covered as a qualified family member under PFL versus the more limited defi-

Burdett Birth Center Saved From Closure

I

n a huge win for patients and healthcare advocates, St. Peter’s Health Partners withdrew its plan to close the Burdett Birth Center! The Save Burdett Center Coalition led this victory with the full support of NYSNA nurses, labor siblings and community members who organized, spoke out and fought to keep the only maternity unit in Rensselaer County open.

Nurses knew that this closure would be a disaster for vulnerable patients and already understaffed and overworked nurses at Ellis Medicine and Albany Medical Center. Because of this victory, Burdett will continue to provide critical access to quality maternity care that residents need and deserve. When we fight, we win!

nition under the Family Medical Leave Act. H+H/Mayorals members should hold the dates from July 8-12 for the PFL membership vote and look out for emails with polling location and time details to be part of this important democratic process.

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14

New York Nurse

our union

spring 2024

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NYSNA Committees Get Active YSNA members have a chance to actively fight for the social justice issues our members care about by getting involved in committees dedicated to advancing policies, educating members and advocating publicly for bold solutions. Check out the descriptions and meeting dates and times for the Social Justice and Civil Rights Committee, the Climate and Environmental Justice Committee, and the Single Payer Healthcare Committee to find out how you can get involved.

NYSNA Social Justice and Civil Rights Committee Update The Social Justice and Civil Rights Committee, which NYSNA First Vice President Judith Cutchin, DNP, RN, leads, meets on the third Thursday of every month. The committee takes on important issues impacting members and our patients and prioritizes NYSNA’s commitment to social justice. On monthly virtual meetings, discussions and presentations focus on LGBTQIA+ issues, racial disparities in healthcare, maternal mortality, gun violence, women’s rights, voter suppression and how NYSNA’s organizing can help move issues forward toward a more just world. We hear directly from nurses on the committee and other members about issues affecting their communities and workplaces.

The committee also highlights union priorities like Lobby Day, special events like parades and marches, coordination with labor allies and NYSNA’s Get Out the Vote program. To attend the next meeting or get involved, contact Nick Arture at Nicholas.Arture@ nysna.org.

NYSNA Climate and Environmental Justice Committee Update The Climate and Environmental Justice Committee is led by NYSNA Secretary Nella Pineda-Marcon, BSN, RN-BC. The committee has been active in coalitions such as NY Renews, Climate Works for All and Climate Jobs NY. Labor unions, faith-based groups and advocacy groups share these coalition spaces with NYSNA, allowing us to build relationships with organizations fighting for climate and environmental justice on the local, state, national and even global level.

NYSNA Single Payer Healthcare Committee Update

In March, NYSNA Board Secretary and Chair of the Climate and Environmental Justice Committee Nella PinedaMarcon, BSN, RN-BC, spoke at a press conference in Albany alongside over 500 climate activists to affirm our support for ambitious climate legislation that holds polluting corporations accountable, like the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

NYSNA climate committee members often travel to Albany and New York City Hall to lobby for the passage of climate justice legislation or to testify on the effects of climate change on our members’ working conditions and patients’ health outcomes. Committee members also join rallies and march to push for more funding to tackle the climate crisis, fight for the enforcement of laws already on the books, serve on climate panels and even contribute to direct environmental actions like cleaning the Hudson River.

Nurses have a unique voice and role to play in disseminating critical information and bringing colleagues, patients and community members along in this fight. This committee meets every other month and welcomes new members to get involved. To find out future meeting dates, please email Jeremy Markman-Williamson at jeremy. markman@nysna.org.

NYSNA’s Single Payer Healthcare Committee is led by NYSNA board member Margaret Franks BSN, RN, MEDSURG-BC, and meets every third Wednesday of the month. After resolving to fight for universal single payer healthcare at our 2022 Convention, NYSNA nurses have been active in the relaunch of the Campaign for New York Health, a statewide coalition dedicated to passing and implementing the New York Health Act, proposed legislation that would expand access to healthcare for all New Yorkers.

NYSNA’s Single Payer Healthcare Committee members were also instrumental in organizing the Campaign for New York Health’s 2024 Conference in Buffalo this past March. At the conference, committee members led the workshop, “Racial Justice, Labor, and Single Payer Healthcare,” to engage participants in connecting the issues of racial inequity and our current privatized healthcare system. They emphasized the role of labor in pushing for legislation like the New York Health Act, which would improve health outcomes for historically marginalized populations to advance racial equity and justice in healthcare.

The committee also launched a quarterly newsletter that updates members on the latest events and accomplishments from the campaign. Visit www.nysna.org/ healthcare-for-all to read the latest newsletter and learn more about upcoming events. To get involved in the Committee, email Gregory Reynoso at Gregory.reynoso@ nysna.org.

NYSNA Regional Director and Chair of the Single Payer Healthcare Committee Margaret Franks, BSN, RN, MEDSURG-BC, and NYSNA Regional Director John Batson, RN, present a workshop at the 2024 Campaign for New York Health Conference in Buffalo in March 2024.

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NEW YORK NURSE spring 2024

Member Dues Rates for 2024-2025 Average dues increase is $2.27 per bi-weekly paycheck (full-time) NYSNA membership dues will take effect July 1.

D

ues rates are based on the average base salary for NYSNA local bargaining unit (LBU) members in various regions of the state. Dues are lower for members who are not represented by NYSNA for collective bargaining, and discounts are applied for members in other special circumstances (see chart below).

NYSNA dues are computed each year according to a formula approved by the members at the 2001 Voting Body. The formula uses a regional base salary (RBS) to determine the dues for members in six different regions in New York state and one in New Jersey.

The RBS is the average of the starting salary paid to staff nurses at all NYSNA-represented facilities in each region as of Jan. 1, 2024. A calculation of 1.6% of this average determines the dues rate for members in that region who are represented for collective bargaining and work full time; and 1.2% for members who are represented for collective bargaining and work less than full time. Dues are not a percentage of each member’s individual salary.

If NYSNA negotiates major pay increases in a region, you will see that reflected in the dues amount you contribute to our union.

NYSNA members pay dues to fund the union’s work. Your dues are used for member representation and arbitrations, winning great new contracts, political and community outreach to support our contract and healthcare advocacy campaigns, member education, events like our annual Convention and Nurses Week celebrations, and our new life insurance benefit.

Nurses Represented by NYSNA for Collective Bargaining Full-Time CBU Member Dues Rate by Payroll Deduction Frequency with Change in Dollar Amount from Last Year in Parentheses

Region

Annual Dues Rate

Weekly (52/yr.)

Bi-Weekly (26/yr.)

Semi-Monthly (24/yr.)

Monthly (12/yr.)

Southern

$1,740.00

$33.46 (+$2.71)

$66.92 (+$5.42)

$72.50 (+$5.87)

$145.00 (+$11.75)

Southeastern

$1,604.00

$30.85 (+$1.70)

$61.69 (+$3.38)

$66.83 (+$3.66)

$133.67 (+$7.34)

Lower Hudson

$1,569.00

$30.17 (+$1.63)

$60.35 (+$3.27)

$65.38 (+$3.55)

$130.75 (+7.08)

New Jersey/South

$1,168.00

$22.46 (+$0.04)

$44.92 (+$0.07)

$48.67 (+$0.09)

$97.33 (+$0.16)

Eastern

$1,213.00

$23.33 (+$0.62)

$46.65 (+$1.23)

$50.54 (+$1.33)

$101.08 (+$2.66)

Central

$1,107.00

$21.29 (+$0.44)

$42.58 (+$0.89)

$46.13 (+$0.96)

$92.25 (+$1.92)

Western

$1,189.00

$22.87 (+$0.83)

$45.73 (+$1.65)

$49.54 (+$1.79)

$99.08 (+$3.58)

Full-time rate is 1.6% of the average starting salary in the region where you work.

Part Time/Per Diem CBU Member Annual Dues Rate

Region

Dues Rate by Payroll Deduction Frequency with Change in Dollar Amount from Last Year in Parentheses Weekly (52/yr.)

Bi-Weekly (26/yr.)

Semi-Monthly (24/yr.)

Monthly (12/yr.)

School-20 (20/Schl Yr.)

School-10 (10/Schl Yr.)

Southern

$1305.

$25.10 (+$1.95)

$50.19 (+3.88)

$54.38 (+$4.21)

$108.75 (+$8.42)

$65.25 (+$5.05)

$130.50 (+$10.10)

Southeastern

$1203.

$23.13 (+$1.17)

$46.27 (+$2.35)

$50.13 (+$2.55)

$100.25 (+$5.08)

$60.15 (+$3.05)

$120.30 (+$6.10)

$58.85 (+$3.00)

$117.70 (+$6.00)

Lower Hudson

$1177.

$22.63 (+$1.15)

$45.27 (+$2.31)

$49.04 (+$2.50)

$98.08 (+$5.00)

New Jersey/South

$876.

$16.85 (+$0.05)

$33.69 (+$0.12)

$36.50 (+$0.13)

$73.00 (+$0.25)

Eastern

$910.

$17.50 (+$0.38)

$35.00 (+$0.77)

$37.92 (+$0.84)

$75.83 (+$1.66)

$45.50 (+$1.00)

$91.00 (+$2.00)

Central

$831.

$15.98 (+$0.25)

$31.96 (+$0.50)

$34.63 (+$0.55)

$69.25 (+$1.08)

$41.55 (+$0.65)

$83.10 (+$1.30)

Western

$892.

$17.15 (+$0.53)

$34.31 (+$1.08)

$37.17 (+$1.17)

$74.33 (+$2.33)

$44.60 (+$1.40)

$89.20 (+$2.80)

Part-time/Per Diem Rate is 1.2% of the average starting salary in the region where you work.

Region

Annual Dues Rate

Quarterly Dues Rate

Monthly (Electronic Deduction Only)

Southern

$914

$228.50 (+$16.50)

$76.17 (+$5.50)

Retired category: Nurses not represented for collective bargaining, who are 62 years or older and retired and earning not more than what social security allows.

Southeastern

$842

$210.50 (+$9.25)

$70.17 (+$3.09)

Annual dues are $100 for all regions.

Lower Hudson

$824

$206.00 (+$9.00)

$68.67 (+$3.00) $51.08 (-$0.67)

Nurses Not Represented by NYSNA for Collective Bargaining Employed nurses not represented by NYSNA for collective bargaining Dues Rate with Change in Dollar Amount from Last Year in Parentheses

New Jersey/South

$613

$153.25 (-$2.00)

Eastern

$637

$159.25 (+$2.00)

$53.08 (+$0.66)

Central

$581

$145.25 ($+0.75)

$48.42 (+$0.66)

Western

$624

$156.00 (+$3.50)

$52.00 (+$1.17)

Rate is 70% of 1.2% of the average starting salary in the region where you work.

Unemployed nurses or employed nurses age 62 and over and not earning more than allowed under Social Security Dues Rate with Change in Dollar Amount from Last Year in Parentheses Region

Annual Dues Rate

Quarterly Dues Rate

Monthly (Electronic Deduction Only)

Southern

$653

$163.25 (+$10.50)

$54.42 (+$3.50)

Southeastern

$601

$150.25 (+$5.25)

$50.08 (+$1.75)

Lower Hudson

$588

$147.00 (+$5.00)

$49.00 (+$1.67)

New Jersey/South

$438

$109.50 (-$2.75)

$36.50 (-$0.92)

Eastern

$455

$113.75 (+$0.25)

$37.92 (+$0.09)

Central

$415

$103.75 (-$0.75)

$34.58 (-$0.25)

Western

$446

$111.50 (+$1.25)

$37.17 ($0.42)

Rate is 50% of 1.2% of the lowest average starting salary in the region where you work or, if you are unemployed, where you live.

Nurses age 62 and over and unemployed, and RNs who are totally or permanently disabled (Social Security award letter required) or Lifetime Members (age 65 or over and paid NYSNA members for 25 years or more) Dues Rate with Change in Dollar Amount from Last Year in Parentheses Region

Annual Dues Rate

Quarterly Dues Rate

Monthly (Electronic Deduction Only)

Southern

$326

$81.50 (+$2.75)

$27.17 (+0.92)

Southeastern

$301

$75.25 (+$0.50)

$25.08 (+$0.16)

Lower Hudson

$294

$73.50 (+$0.25)

$24.50 (+$0.08)

New Jersey/South

$219

$54.75 (-$3.50)

$18.25 (-$1.17)

Eastern

$227

$56.75 (-$2.25)

$18.92 (-$0.75)

Central

$208

$52.00 (-$2.50)

$17.33 (-$0.84)

Western

$223

$55.75 (-$1.75)

$18.58 (-$0.59)

Rate is 25% of 1.2% of the average starting salary in the region where you live.

Dues Regions Western: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tompkins, Wayne, Wyoming, Yates Central: Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Fulton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Schenectady, St. Lawrence, Tioga Eastern: Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Essex, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Orange, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, Warren, Washington Southern: Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond Lower Hudson: Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester Southeastern: Nassau, Suffolk New Jersey/South: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Salem

NEW YORK NURSE

Non-Profit US Postage Paid NYSNA

spring 2024

131 West 33rd Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10001

INSIDE Our Week, Our Future, p. 2

Healthcare Justice Is Social Justice, p. 3