Statement by the NYS Nurses Association regarding NLRB decision against Nathan Littauer Hospital

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2016
Contacts: Carl Ginsburg, carl.ginsburg@nysna.org, 917.405.1060

In a ruling issued yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Office of Appeals directed the NLRB Regional Director in Buffalo to issue an unfair labor practice complaint against Nathan Litttauer Hospital (NLH) for unlawfully threatening the nurses with a retroactive increase in their health benefit co-pays.

NYSNA has filed additional unfair labor practice charges against NLH for unlawfully threatening to illegally make unilateral changes in the nurses’ benefits and to lock them out if they engage in their legal right to strike.

These unlawful threats have impaired NYSNA’s ability to bargain a fair contract for the past two years for its nurses and for the patients and communities they serve. We hope that the NLRB’s action today will help the parties reach a contract settlement.

Nathan Littauer management was previously found by the NLRB in January to have engaged in unfair labor practices for illegally locking out the nurses following a one day strike and was required to pay nurses back wages.

“NYSNA welcomes the decision by the National Labor Relations Board to enforce the nurses’ rights under the law to secure a fair contract and to direct Nathan Littauer Hospital to comply with the law. We call upon our allies in the labor movement and the local community to demand that Nathan Littauer and its board of directors stop breaking the law and negotiate a fair contract,” said Jill Furillo, Executive Director of NYSNA.

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The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) represents more than 43,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. For more information, please visit nysna.org.