Grievances and Unit Issues

• The delegates voted to take a disciplinary grievance to arbitration. The case involves a nurse and a nurses’ aide who had an argument in a patient care area. The hospital gave the aide a final warning while the nurse, who had never been disciplined before, received a one-day suspension. As a result of the grievance, the hospital was willing to reduce the suspension to a final warning, but the union still considers this level of discipline to be excessive.
• The Union received a number of complaints regarding the rude and abusive behavior of certain Managers, ADNs and Directors in their interactions with the nursing staff. We recently filed a class action grievance regarding this issue. The Hospital has agreed to address the matter.
• On 8 Uris, management has been requiring the resource nurse to take on charge responsibilities in violation of Article XXVII of the contract. An arbitration to resolve this matter was scheduled for March 29th. As a result of and all-day mediation on March 20th, the Hospital signed a commitment to abide by the contract language. The Union will monitor the hospital’s compliance, and we retain the right to reschedule the arbitration should the need arise.
• The Union has filed a class action grievance on behalf of nurses in the PACU, Ambulatory RR, and Same Day Admission. They collectively worked over 50 hours of mandatory overtime in the month of March. Our contract expressly prohibits mandatory overtime with no exceptions.

Nurse/Patient Ratios

NYPNU has succeeded in getting a question on mandatory nurse/patient ratios included in the Working Families Party’s questionnaire for state level candidates. We are one step closer to the day when nurse/patient ratio violations will be against the law.

Contract Campaign Committee

We will begin contract negotiations in September of this year. A strong contract requires that all members be involved in the process of developing contract demands and supporting the negotiating committee. To that end, we are creating a Contract Campaign Committee comprised of at least two representatives from each unit in addition to current delegates. Collective bargaining is just that—collective. It must begin with union members talking to each other and jointly determining their priorities. The committee members will coordinate this process on their individual units and will work with union leadership to determine the union’s overall priorities before the onset of negotiations. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please speak to a union delegate or call the union office. This year it is more important than ever that we stand united and speak with one voice.

Housekeeping

Patients and staff should see an improvement in the cleanliness of the Hospital in the coming months. The Hospital has hired Crothall, a cleaning services contractor, to manage housekeeping hospital wide. Crothall will implement a “fresh as a daisy” program to bring a hotel-like approach to the cleaning of patients’ rooms.

Continuing Education

NYPNU is planning to reinstitute CE classes. These classes were very popular with our members in the past, and Nancy DiMauro, who recently left LHH’s Nursing Education department, has expressed interest in conducting them in the future. The next step will be a survey of members’ education needs.