Gearing Up for Contract Negotiations
Membership involvement is crucial to a successful contract campaign. The strength of our contract depends on every member doing his or her share. Fill out this form to let us know what role(s) you would like to play. In particular we need reliable people to be part of a phone tree on each unit so that we will all be up-to-date on the latest developments in negotiations.
We are in the process of forming a 14-person bargaining team, which will consist of NYPNU executive board members and a cross-section of delegates covering all divisions.
Destruction of Pay Stubs-The Real Story
The union asked management to reconsider the reduction of paycheck distribution hours. They responded by telling us that we should encourage nurses to pick up their pay stubs; otherwise they would be destroyed. Quite naturally, we filed a grievance over both issues. The grievance was categorically denied without even the courtesy of a grievance hearing. When the hospital attempted to dump the unclaimed pay stubs at the NYPNU office, we did, in fact,
refuse to accept them because we do not have an employer/employee relationship with our members. We filed for arbitration, and the hearing is scheduled for Jan. 21st.
Conversion of 8 Wollman
On July 2nd, the hospital notified the union that they intend to convert 8 Wollman from a med/surg unit into a telemetry unit. Union delegates and 8 Wollman nurses are meeting with management to ensure that the nurses' rights are protected.
Save the Date- NYPNU Annual Picnic
Back by popular demand, the NYPNU Annual Picnic will be held on Sept. 20th in Central Park. |
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Save the Date-Membership Meeting
We will have a general membership meeting on Sept. 3rd to review contract proposals. Bargaining will begin in September. |
Grievance Update
The union has filed a class action grievance on behalf of PCU nurses. The hospital has been putting overflow PCU patients on 3 East where the monitoring equipment is inadequate. PCU nurses must also staff 3 East exacerbating ratio violations on 5 Uris.
We have filed a hospital-wide class action grievance over the floating of staff nurses in preference to per diem and agency nurses. Most of the violations seem to be occurring on PCU and CCU. If this is also happening on your unit, please call the office to let us know.
The class action grievance on contraceptive equity was heard on June 27th. While the hospital agreed in principle that the prescription plan should cover contraceptives, they insist on offsetting the cost by increasing the co-pay for office visits or for all prescriptions. Since employers are legally obligated to provide contraceptive coverage under a recent EEOC decision, the union will not defer this issue to bargaining. We have filed for arbitration.
Victory! The union helped a member who was unjustly terminated win unemployment insurance benefits despite the hospital's claim that she was fired for misconduct. We are now trying to get an expedited arbitration hearing.
Cleaning Chemicals
The union and management will meet in July to discuss the noxious fumes from the hospital's cleaning agents. If you have experienced negative reactions, please call the office before July 21st to let us know.
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