**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY THURSDAY, AUG. 1 AT 12 PM**
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
NURSES TO GIVE BARGAINING UPDATE AS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS AT ALBANY MED BREAK DOWN
Nurses Call for a Mediator to Continue Negotiations
Nurses Plan to Picket at the Hospital on August 20
Albany, N.Y.– On Wednesday afternoon, July 31, with their contract set to expire at midnight, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Albany Medical Center and management failed to reach an agreement on a new contract. With the parties still far apart, nurses called for a mediator to continue negotiations. Albany Med management has yet to agree to mediation.
WHO: NYSNA Nurses
WHAT: Update on Negotiations and Safe Staffing Crisis at Albany Med
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024 at 12 NOON
WHERE: Across the street from Albany Medical Center (43 New Scotland Ave) - On the Hilton Garden Inn side of New Scotland Ave, between Holland Ave and Veterans Way
Safe staffing and a real plan to recruit and retain enough nurses for safe patient care continue to be sticking points in the negotiations.
NYSNA wants the safe staffing plan that Albany Med administrators agreed to and submitted to the New York State Department of Health to be included—and enforceable in the contract, but administrators do not. 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 also wants to include our union rights in the contract, but administrators do not.
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.
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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.
