Save the date!
Annual Membership Meeting
Wednesday, November 2nd
Elections for Officers, Executive Board members and Delegates will be held. If you are interested in running for a position, please pick up a petition at the Union office. Petitions are due on October 21st. Under the NYPNU Constitution, nominations can be taken from the floor only if fewer than seven (7) candidates for Executive Board or eighteen (18) candidates for Delegate have submitted valid petitions.
Grievances and Unit Issues
On August 4th, there was a grievance hearing on understaffing in the ER. Two staff nurses, who did not attend the grievance hearing at the same time, independently stated that “we are working like dogs.” Staff nurses also pointed to the high turnover rate in the ER as indicative of the poor working conditions. Laura Giles, the Nurse Manager, attributed some of the problems to the construction, which will not be completed for another year and a half. Currently there are 6 vacancies on nights and 1 on days. The Hospital is advertising to recruit more ER nurses. Management has hired 1 traveler on nights, and a night nurse on medical leave is expected to return within the next month. In addition, Ms. Giles has acquired permission to hire per diems exclusively for the ER.
The nurses in the Ambulatory Surgery department submitted a petition to management requesting that two issues be addressed. First, visitors enter the department before reaching the main security desk and are then able to wander into the 1st floor operating rooms and recovery room unhindered by any locked doors. Second, the recovery room nurses have no access to an employee-only bathroom. The bathroom they use most frequently has heavy public traffic and is not, shall we say, well-maintained. Marge Kilfeather is attempting to have a lock put
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on a nearby bathroom, but is encountering resistance from engineering. We will continue to monitor this problem and follow-up with management until the issue is resolved. Pamela Threets, NYPNU’s representative on the Environment of Care Committee, will bring the issue to the committee’s attention.
Nurse/Patient Ratio Violations
It has come to NYPNU’s attention that some ADNs are telling staff nurses that the contract allows them to exceed the nurse/patient ratios by a total of 2 patients per med/surg unit. This is patently false, and NYPNU has written a letter to the ADNs apprising them of this fact. Please inform the Union if this continues to be a problem, and we will take appropriate action.
Manager Evaluations
Thanks again to all members who filled out the manager evaluations. The Union has finished aggregating the data. Each manager who was evaluated will receive a form that will include the average grade they received in each category and a typed up version of all the comments. In addition, the aggregated data will be given to Chris Sheppard and the appropriate Director of Nursing. If you are considering a lateral transfer and would like to review the results for a particular manager, the evaluation summaries are available in the NYPNU office.
Political Action
NYPNU has endorsed HR 676, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, which was introduced in the House of Representatives by John Conyers. The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered health care program that extends the already existing Medicare program to all U.S. residents. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans will have access to high quality health care services without regard to employment or income level.
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