**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, AUG. 20 AT 6:30 PM**
Contact: Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
HUNDREDS OF NURSES TO HOLD PICKET AND URGE ALBANY MED TO DELIVER A FAIR CONTRACT TO IMPROVE QUALITY CARE
Hundreds of Nurses to Hold Informational Picket and Candlelight Vigil to Bring Attention to Safety Issues in Hospital
With an Expired Contract and Staffing Crisis at the Hospital, Nurses Demand Management Return to the Bargaining Table
Albany, N.Y.– On Tuesday evening, Aug. 20, nearly three weeks after their contract expired on July 31, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Albany Medical Center will hold an informational picket and candlelight vigil to demand a fair contract from hospital management and bring attention to the safety issues that currently plague the hospital. Nurses will be joined by community members, patients, and elected leaders.
The nurses’ union contract expired on July 31. Nurses pressed hospital management to continue bargaining with a mediator, and they continue to work under the expired contract. Although hospital management agreed to mediation, the first bargaining date they agreed to was nearly four weeks after contract expiration, Aug. 26. Nurses demand the hospital return to the bargaining table and deliver a contract that will recruit and retain nurses. They maintain that patient safety is at stake.
On Monday evening, Albany Common Council passed a resolution encouraging Albany Medical Center Administration to “respect nurses and patients and settle a fair contract.”
Gabriella Romero, Albany Common Council Member, said: “Nurses have been at the forefront of the fight for patient safety, speaking out to defend their patients’ safety when few others will. They deserve a contract that respects their work and ensures that patients get the care they need. Today, I’m standing with them in their contract fight and demand that Albany Med take their patients’ safety as seriously as nurses have.”
WHO: NYSNA Nurses, labor, community and elected officials including State Assembly Member Phil Steck, Citizen Action, Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State, and Capital District Area Labor Federation
WHAT: Informational Picket and Candlelight Vigil at Albany Med
WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024
Informational picket from 6-8. Speak-out and vigil start at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: In front of Albany Medical Center (43 New Scotland Ave)
**Visuals: Hundreds of nurses and supporters marching, chanting, holding signs, speaking-out, and conducting a vigil with faith leaders. Interview opportunities with nurses**
**Photo and video available upon request**
Nurses and management are still far apart on key issues, including safe staffing and a plan to recruit and retain enough nurses for patient safety.
NYSNA maintains that contract negotiations must address turnover to ensure patient safety. NYSNA has developed a safe staffing plan that Albany Med administrators agreed to and submitted to the New York State Department of Health. NYSNA nurses want this plan to be enforceable in the contract. NYSNA wants a pay offer that addresses the nurse staffing crisis that has left patients vulnerable after more nurses leave the hospital than they can retain. NYSNA also wants to include union rights in the contract, but administrators do not.
Alÿcia Bacon, Citizen Action of New York, said, “Albany Med is one of largest employers in the region and they continually put profits before patients. As they expand, they decrease the quality-of-care patients receive. If we care about our community, we need to join NYSNA nurses in their fight for safer hospitals.”
Albany Med. nurse and NYSNA Executive Committee and Bargaining Committee Member, Tonia Bazel, RN, said, “We’re fighting for a contract that protects patients by keeping nurses at the bedside with enforceable safe staffing ratios, fair pay, good benefits, and a real voice in patient care. If we want to retain nurses at Albany Med, hospital administrators need to show they value the work we do by showing us some respect.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, "Nurses at Albany Med are tired of working understaffed because hospital administrators will not hire and retain enough nurses for safe staffing. Instead of supporting the nurses, management is trying to silence them. As patient advocates, we will not be silenced; we will continue to speak out until we win the fair contract that nurses, patients and this community deserves."
NYSNA nurse at Albany Medical Center, Jessica DeStefano, RN, recently wrote an opinion editorial in the Times Union explaining how patient care suffers when hospitals overburden nurses with too many patients. Patients have longer wait times and nurses resort to relying on family members to assist in some of their critical tasks in the absence of sufficient staffing support.
Albany Med has the highest ER visit times in New York state and nurses say that’s largely because hospital management is not doing what it takes to hire and retain enough qualified nurses at the bedside. NYSNA nurses received data from the hospital during negotiations that show that 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%.
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. For the last two years, more nurses have left the hospital than have been hired. (source: hospital-supplied data)
Reverand West McNeill, Executive Director of Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State, said, "Safe nurse staffing levels is an issue of healthcare justice and nurses have been sounding the bell on this issue for years. When there aren’t enough nurses, patients don’t get the safe quality care they need, and health inequities are exacerbated. That’s why I’m standing here today to demand that Albany Medical Center address patient safety.”
Assembly Member Phil Steck said, “Nurses are asking for simple things: respect on the job and that management fix the staffing crisis that endangers patients. Every day the hospital refuses to bargain to improve nurses’ and patients’ conditions is a day that is less safe for our community. We demand that one of the largest employers in the Capital region settle a fair contract and ensure patients get the quality care they deserve.”
The staffing issues have become so dire that in June, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) launched an investigation into nurse staffing levels at Albany Medical Center. Nurses say management at the hospital 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.
Over the last year, nurses have hosted community forums, delivered petitions to hospital leadership, and held speak-outs for safe staffing.
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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.
