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NYSNA participates in NYC Lobby Day

	HHC executive council chair Joan Cumberbatch (left) and NYSNA Delegate Assembly Vice President Patricia Kane (center) meet with NYC Councilman Kendall Stewart. (right).
	Eli Richlin (left), from City Councilman Eric Gioia's office, meets with NYSNA Delegate Assembly President Anne Bové and James Pomper, a release time RN from Elmhurst Hospital. (Photos: Rolando Tomas Infante)

More than two dozen NYSNA members and staff were in New York City Hall on March 22, lobbying City Council members on behalf of their fellow nurses in the public and private sectors. NYSNA representatives visited with members of the Council’s Health Committee and other influential members who have some jurisdiction over health and labor issues.

Issues included a request for a home rule message by the Council to the State Legislature for legislation designating nursing as a “physically taxing” occupation.

“The passage of this ‘home rule’ message would allow the Council to right a wrong committed many years ago,” said Nancy Kaleda, senior associate director of NYSNA’s Economic and General Welfare program. “This physically-taxing legislation is cost-neutral to the city, and the designation is only fitting for the difficult work RNs perform each day.”

RNs from inside and outside HHC also urged council members to pressure Mayor Bloomberg and his administration to provide a fair and equitable contract for the nurses.

Councilman Joseph Addabbo, Jr., chair of the Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor, invited NYSNA to speak before his committee on the need to reform the Taylor Law. He also promised a stand-alone hearing dedicated to NYSNA.

With more than 34,000 members, NYSNA is the oldest and largest state nurses’ association in the nation. It is an influential union for RNs, representing nurses in New York and New Jersey. Offering a wide range of services to its members, NYSNA fosters high standards of nursing education and practice and works to advance the profession through legislative activity. It is a constituent of the American Nurses Association and of the United American Nurses, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.