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	NYSNA members and staff meet with John Liu (center), New York City Councilman and chair of the Transportation Committee.
	NYSNA staff and members, including Delegate Assembly President Anne Bové (seated, right) meet with New York City Councilman Dan Garodnick (standing, center).

NYSNA's Fall NYC Lobby Day

NYSNA members met with some of the most influential members in the New York City Council during NYSNA's Fall New York City Lobby Day on October 25.

NYSNA's ability to spend time with legislative leaders in New York demonstrates its growing influence in the city’s labor movement. NYSNA members expressed their appreciation to the council members who helped forward legislation to Albany to improve HHC nurses' pensions. Although the bill was vetoed by Governor Pataki, the nurses asked council members to remember them when another request comes to before them in the coming year.

Nurses also asked for council support for resolutions supporting NYSNA’s safe-staffing bill in Albany, and a bill to provide tougher penalties for assaulting an RN in the line of duty, similar to existing bills protecting police and firefighters.

The lobbying nurses brought up NYSNA’s active participation in the "Save Our Safety Net" campaign to head-off arbitrary closings and downsizing of hospitals and nursing homes by the Berger Commission. They encouraged the council members to convene and participate in public hearings in response to the commission’s recommendations that will be released this December.

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.