Westchester Medical Center nurses are the backbone of public health in Westchester County and beyond — providing lifesaving care to a six-county area. However, Westchester Medical Center is not retaining frontline nurses and is failing to hire enough nurses to meet patients’ needs.

That’s why NYSNA nurses from Westchester Medical Center (WMC) – along with labor, elected, and community allies – rallied on Sept. 7 to demand a fair contract that includes safe staffing, fair wages, and strong retention plans.

Local bargaining unit second vice president Mary-Lynn Boyts, RN, said, “They refuse to put negotiated and agreed-upon safe nurse-to-patient ratios in our contract because it will hold them accountable. Now they are refusing to negotiate a modest salary increase that will help recruit and retain nurses needed to be compliant with New York’s staffing laws.”

Nurses sounded the alarm on poor staffing conditions and about Westchester Medical Center administration’s refusal to put the safe staffing ratios they negotiated as part of New York’s hospital staffing law into the nurses’ union contract.

Nurses have been in negotiations with management for nearly a year, and it’s time for WMC management to give them the respect they deserve.