New York-Presbyterian Hospital Escalates Attacks On Nurses’ Union And Patient Safety

By NYSNA Photos: NYSA\Facebook New York, N.Y.—On Thursday, Aug. 22, lawyers for NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Hospital and the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) will head to federal court in Manhattan. NYP is attempting to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent an arbitrator from hearing evidence in a safe staffing arbitration scheduled for Monday, Aug. 26 about conditions at NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Nurses at NYP-Methodist allege understaffing in 4 interconnected units—labor and delivery, pediatrics, pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) and neonatal ICU. Nurses intend to testify and to show the arbitrator how more than a year’s worth of the hospital’s own staffing data demonstrate that the hospital’s persistent, flagrant violations of the safe staffing standards in the contract. According to their union contract’s safe staffing enforcement mechanism, cases of severe or chronic understaffing can be heard and ruled on by a neutral third-party arbitrator, who has the power to issue a variety of remedies. The contract’s staffing enforcement provision clearly requires the employer to accept the first date the arbitrator offers and prevents the parties from adjourning or rescheduling. Since winning stronger enforcement mechanisms in New York City private sector contracts in late 2022 and early 2023, NYSNA nurses...