Albany Med Nurses Hold Strong
NYSNA nurses at Albany Medical Center continue their fight to protect safe, quality patient care in the capital region — but at every turn, their employer stonewalls them by engaging in anti-union, unlawful behavior. Now, with the Albany Med administration silencing outspoken nurse advocates and bringing bargaining details into the public domain, nurses are holding strong and pushing back.
An Unprecedented Staffing Crisis
For months, NYSNA nurses have been speaking out about the staffing crisis at Albany Med. So far, though, the hospital administration has denied what frontline nurses know: that Albany Med doesn’t have enough nurses to provide the safe, quality patient care that this community deserves.
Though hospital leadership wasn’t listening to nurses, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) was. In August, the DOH delivered a long-awaited Staffing Deficiency Report to Albany Med, the result of an investigation the DOH launched in response to complaints from NYSNA nurses. But hospital leadership refused — and continues to refuse — to share the full report with nurses, despite its legal obligation to do so.
Though nurses still have not seen a copy of the report, CEO Dr. Dennis McKenna released — and downplayed — some of the report’s findings. During a closed press conference, held at the same time as the Staffing Committee meeting, McKenna admitted to more than 480 confirmed staffing violations, the largest publicly known number of violations that a DOH report has ever found since the safe staffing law went into effect.
Albany Med’s Unlawful Behavior
Throughout the bargaining process, Albany Med administrators have been vocal about their anti-safe staffing and anti-union position and have gone as far as to retaliate against and discipline outspoken nurse advocates. In November, the administration initiated the disciplinary process against a NYSNA nurse just days after she questioned management on a new neonatal intensive care unit staffing schedule. The same nurse was also unlawfully disciplined for taking part in a speak-out about staffing conditions. And she isn’t the only one — in total, NYSNA has filed eight unfair labor practice charges against the hospital for retaliation and management’s refusal to allow union representation in the disciplinary proceedings that followed.
In addition to silencing nurses, Albany Med has also attempted to shut down a campaign website set up to inform the public about understaffing at the hospital. In November, Albany Med filed a baseless lawsuit against NYSNA, claiming that the creation of Albanymedqualitycare.org constitutes “trademark infringement” and “will continue to cause serious and irreparable injury” to the hospital. Instead of retaliating against nurses and filing meritless lawsuits, Albany Med should focus its resources on settling the fair contract that capital region patients deserve.
A Slap in the Face for Frontline Nurses
In December, Albany Med administrators took another cheap shot at union nurses by holding a closed-door press conference to publicly share a so-called “final offer.” The press conference — and subsequent PR blitz and pressure campaign — was yet another attempt on the hospital’s part to avoid accountability, silence outspoken nurse advocates, and pressure nurses into accepting a contract that won’t solve the staffing and quality care crisis at the hospital. Instead of bargaining in good faith with nurses and trying to create meaningful solutions to the staffing crisis, the hospital has spent untold thousands of dollars and countless hours using cynical public relations tactics to hide this truth from the public: Albany Med cares more about their profits than it does about nurses and patients.
Nurses Refuse to Be Bullied
Despite the hospital’s best efforts, NYSNA nurses at Albany Med refuse to be bullied. Nurses know that this latest offer doesn’t do nearly enough to guarantee the safe staffing, fair wages and benefits, and union voice that they need to provide safe, quality patient care for the capital region. They are heading back to the bargaining table, and they won’t accept a contract that compromises on patient care when their friends’, families’, community members’, and fellow New Yorkers’ lives are at stake. NYSNA nurses know that when we fight, we win — and Albany Med nurses won’t stop fighting until they win the fair contract for all Albany Med nurses and patients.
If you’re a nurse in upstate New York, you can support Albany Med nurses by signing their petition and sharing a story about the impact Albany Med’s staffing crisis has on your patients or facility at https://nysna.salsalabs.org/albanymedceo.