Haiti - Earthquake
NYPNU's Leadership sends our thoughts and prayers out to members who have family and friends affected by the Earthquake. Please check our website to see how you can help. 

Thank you
To all our members, we would like to officially thank you for your support during a difficult contract negotiating season. We especially want to acknowledge our dedicated Contract Negotiation Action Team who worked tirelessly with Joe Barnes, our wonderful Organizer. To all of Joe's fans- although Joe is back in LA he has promised to return for our next contract negotiation in 2012. 

Momentum and Leadership: 
Our Vision for 2010

• Our Vision for 2010 will continue to be NYPNU United. We will build on the momentum started during the contract negotiation season by identifying and training additional Union leaders, and by keeping our eyes and ears open in all areas of the Hospital to ensure our Contractual rights are protected.
• Wednesday 12-2PM in the cafeteria. We will have a member of our negotiation team present to answer any questions you may have about new and existing contract language.
• If you are experiencing contract violations on your unit, please call the office with the best date and time for representatives from your unit to meet with Kathrina. Although we negotiated an excellent contract we need every member to be vigilant in making sure it is honored.
• We also need leaders in all areas and units of the Hospital - particularly if your unit is without a delegate or unit rep. Please help us to identify and recruit members who exhibit leadership qualities and would be interested in assuming a more active role. No prior experience is necessary!! If you or your colleague thinks you might enjoy this work, we will make sure you have the needed skills. Please call the office as soon as possible so we can arrange for training right away.

Health Coverage 
The Hospital is changing insurance carriers from Oxford to Empire. The plan design and level of coverage will remain the same for 2010. NOTE: Open enrollment will begin this Wednesday 1/13 and will continue until January 29th. We will post a copy of the summary plan on our website as soon as it is available. 

Sick Leave Notification
Employees are now required to notify his/her supervisor at least(4) hours in advance when calling in for sick days. Emergency day (k day) advance notice is still(2) hours notice. The additional time will be used by the scheduling office to recruit per diems, agency nurses, and staff RN's interested in working overtime. All 77th Street calls should be made to 212-434-2210 and all 64th Street calls should be made to 212-605-3774. 

New Resource RN Responsibity
One additional responsibility has been added to Resource RN's responsibilities as outlined in the CBA ArticleXXVIII. The new responsibility is to assure the narcotic cycle count is done and to report all discrepancies to the unit manager or supervisor. There will also be a reorientation to the omnicell for all RNs. The hospital has assured us that if Charge RNs cannot identify where the discrepancies are that they should manage it up their nursing leadership. 

Super Bowl Sunday 
We were surprised to learn that Super Bowl Sunday was a very difficult day for management to staff the Hospital due to excessive sick calls and "k" day utilization. As a result members can no longer use their Emergency Day (k day) on Super Bowl Sunday. Please take note of this because Super Bowl Sunday is approaching!!!!! 

Collective Bargaining Agreement Booklet
We anticipate distributing the new contract booklets in early February as soon as they arrive from the printer. We will let you know the moment they arrive and we distribute them in the Cafeteria. 

Grievances and Unit Issues 

Emergency Room Arbitration 
In 2009, the working conditions in the ER continued to deteriorate. Staffing levels in the ER were rarely, if ever, met, RNs were not able to take their contractual breaks, and the unit was constantly overcrowded with patients waiting for beds. The arbitration is scheduled for March 18th 2010. 

OR Petition
The OR RNs have reported unacceptable and demeaning treatment by the current OR Director. A petition, signed by the OR RN's was sent to Phyllis Yezzo, Vice President of Nursing requesting a meeting and asking for her assistance in addressing their issues. We will keep you posted. Ms. Yezzo is scheduling the meeting - NYPNU representatives will be present to assure their concerns are heard.

In Sympathy - Ornette Morton, RN
With great sadness, we report the passing of Ornette Morton who died December 2, 2009. Ornette has worked at the hospital since 1978 and we will miss her. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the Morton family. 

Collective Bargaining Agreement: 
Effective: November 1, 2010 - October 31, 2012.
As you know our collective bargaining agreement was finalized on the date of ratification on 11/6/2009 and goes into effect November 1, 2010. 

Significant changes include: 

Unit Based Per Diems
The Hospital informed NYPNU during Negotiations that one of the reasons they were not able to meet the negotiated staffing ratios was due to the high volume of sick calls received daily. 

As a result, the Union and Hospital agreed to a new category of unit based per diem. These per diem RN's will be specific to various units throughout the Hospital with the goal of ensuring adequate staffing on all units. 

After the creation of the unit time schedule by Staff RNs, unit based per diems will fill in their availability to supplement staffing needs. 

1. Unit-based per diems shall work one (1) of the following holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, or New Year's Eve and Day, and one (1) summer holiday. Unit based per diems shall not be required to work in excess of (1) weekend or two (2) weekend shifts each month. (Article 1, Section 7) 

2. A Unit-based per diem shall not be floated to another unit in preference to an agency, traveler, float per diem or overtime nurse qualified to do the work on the other unit. When floating an RN to another unit, agency nurses shall be selected first, followed by travelers, followed by float per diems, followed by overtime nurses, in that order provided that in all cases, the RN selected must be qualified to perform work. (Article 1, Section 7) 

3. A Unit based per diem shall be included in the float rotation schedule of the unit. 

4. Unit-based per diem shall participate in self-scheduling for the work area in accordance with Article XI, section 1 after full-time and part-time RNs have determined their shifts on schedule. 

Endoscopy 
The Endoscopy arbitration was put on hold until the end of 2009 to track whether or not the settlement agreement was being respected. Unfortunately, conditions have not improved in the Endoscopy Unit. RNs are being forced into Mandatory OT, having to transport patients and performing non nursing functions. We have requested a Grievance date from management and will report back to you on a resolution or our move to arbitration. 

Clinical Divisions
Please remember that the clinical divisions for floating have been revised and the hospital has committed to NYPNU, in writing, that they will ensure RNs are clinically competent before they are floated to new areas. Float pay will be paid as per Article XIV, Section 8. 

Upcoming Arbitrations

• Emergency Room March 18, 2010
• NCCU RN transfer to Same Day March 22, 2010
• ICU Charge RNs April 1, 2010
• Endoscopy (on hold)

Website Launching
Stay tuned for NYPNU's new website. The new site will be user friendly, interactive and enable us to communicate with our members easily! NYPNU has also launched a twitter page. Follow NYPNU on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/NYPNU (do not add a period) 

Login to New NYPNU Website

As stated above, NYPNU is launching our new website. To allow you secure access to the "member's only" section of the new site, we have created a private account with a username and password for you. We have been unable to get in contact with a number of our members, due to faulty contact information. If you believe your contact information is incorrect, and you would like to retrieve your login information for the website, please call the union office or drop by to update your records. 

NYPNU Committees
If you have any interest in joining us in NYPNU events or NYPNU's Political Action Committee this year, please call the union office and ask to speak to Ferrugia Sonthonax or e-mail her at fsonthonax@nypnu.org. 

Weingarten Rights - Union Representation
Please remember if you are called into a meeting with management and have reason to believe that disciplinary action may result, you have a right to refuse to continue without union representation. Call the union office and speak to Diane or Kathrina.