Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337‬

Albany Med Nurses Give Bargaining Update, Announce Info Picket as Contract Negotiations Break Down

Albany Med Nurses Call for a Mediator to Continue Negotiations. Nurses Announce Picket at the Hospital on August 20

Albany, N.Y.– On Thursday, Aug. 1, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Albany Medical Center held a press conference to update the community on the status of safe staffing and negotiations for a nurse contract at the hospital. Nurses called for a mediator to continue negotiations after the parties were still far from reaching an agreement on a new contract before the July 31 contract expiration. Albany Med management has yet to agree to mediation.

NYSNA nurses are firm on their demands for safe staffing and a real plan to recruit and retain enough nurses for safe patient care. They are calling on Albany Med to include the safe staffing plan administrators submitted to the New York State Department of Health in the contract and make it enforceable, but management has refused. Nurses also contend that Albany Med’s offer on nurse pay is not enough to address the nurse staffing crisis that has seen more nurses leave Albany Med than they can hire. NYSNA nurses want to include our union rights in the contract, but management does not.

Photos of the press conference are available for press to use with attribution to NYSNA at www.facebook.com/nynurses. 

Several NYSNA leaders and members of the nurse negotiating committee spoke out and provided more details about the key sticking points in negotiations.

Albany Medical Center infectious disease nurse and NYSNA member Tonia Bazel, RN said, "Our contract expired last night at midnight. It became clear to us yesterday afternoon that Albany Med administrators were not serious about addressing the staffing and retention crisis. Negotiations broke down because we were too far apart on the issues that matter most—enforceable safe staffing, fair pay to hire and retain nurses, and respect. I have seen the impact of unsafe staffing throughout the hospital. My friends and family members have experienced it as patients. Our patients and community deserve quality care with enough nurses at the bedside. That is our bottom line."

Jennifer Kiehle, RN, a NICU nurse and negotiating committee member, said, “Management refuses to include the staffing plan they submitted to the Department of Health in our contract if it’s enforceable. It’s easy to agree to numbers on paper if you never intend to follow them. A plan with numbers won’t deliver quality care to our patients—actually following that plan and staffing our hospital with experienced nurses will. Our patients and community deserve real enforceable safe staffing.”

“So many new nurses in my unit and throughout the hospital leave almost as soon as they’re oriented. Albany Med does not do enough to improve staffing and fair pay for the nurses to stay,” said Kathryn Dupuis, RN, labor and delivery nurse at Albany Medical Center. “NYSNA nurses want fair pay that respects our work and experience. We also need administrators to respect our union voice.”

Nurses delivered a notice for informational picketing at the hospital on August 20. More actions may be planned. 

NYSNA recently released new data about Albany Med’s high nurse turnover that NYSNA nurses received directly from the hospital in union negotiations. Approximately 50 percent of Albany Med nurses have less than 5 years of bedside experience at Albany Med. There are currently nearly 600 vacant nursing positions. Albany Med’s nurse vacancy rate is nearly 25%, while a study found that the average national vacancy rate is 10%.  

Albany Med’s retention rate is poor, with nurses getting burned out and leaving at alarming rates. For the last two years, more nurses have left the hospital than have been hired. In 2023, Albany Med hired 277 RNs, but 315 left. As of July 2024, the hospital hired 98 RNs, but there have been 156 departures – more than in the same time frame last year. The hospital is on track to hire 100 new grads, which will help fill vacancies, but will not add experienced nurses or address retention problems.  (source: hospital-supplied data) 

Nurses have hosted community forums, delivered petitions to hospital leadership, and held speak-outs for safe staffing in recent months.  They have highlighted quality care issues due to understaffing. Albany Med also has the highest ER visit times in New York state and nurses say that’s largely because hospital management isn’t doing what it takes to hire and retain enough qualified nurses at the bedside.

In June, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) launched an investigation into nurse staffing levels at Albany Medical Center after receiving dozens of complaints from nurses tasked with more patients than they could safely care for. Nurses say management at Albany Medical Center has failed to follow the state’s staffing laws and failed to listen to frontline caregivers who have been telling them that staffing levels at the hospital are unsafe and lead to nurse burnout and high turnover.

Now Albany Med nurses are awaiting the results of the DOH investigation, including the potential citations and remedies that the DOH orders.   Since the DOH visit on June 4, the NICU has continued to be understaffed. Nurses filed 20 more unsafe staffing complaints in the 3 weeks after DOH investigators came. For 6 of those shifts, Albany Med called off nurses who were scheduled to work, leaving the unit understaffed. The report from the DOH investigation is nearly 30 days late.

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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.