PLATTSBURGH, June 1, 2007 – NYSNA has served management at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center (CVPH) with notice that it will again conduct an informational picket.
The notice was filed Thursday night after management failed to offer significant improvements to its latest contract proposal. NYSNA represents 600 healthcare professionals at the facility, including registered nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, technicians, and therapists. Their most recent contract expired on Jan. 1, 2007. The professional staff have picketed once already, on March 21.
CVPH management is still seeking to freeze the professionals’ pension plan and replace it with a plan to which they must contribute. NYSNA has also determined that management’s latest offer would still be leave CVPH base salaries more than 5% below those at Alice Hyde Hospital.
NYSNA believes it would be irresponsible to consider management’s latest offer because its members would suffer a severe loss in their pensions and it would cause the medical center to fall behind in recruiting and retaining qualified healthcare staff.
Picketing is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 13 in front of the medical center.
With more than 34,000 members, NYSNA is the oldest and largest state nurses’ association in the nation. It is an influential union for RNs, representing nurses in New York and New Jersey. Offering a wide range of services to its members, NYSNA fosters high standards of nursing education and practice and works to advance the profession through legislative activity. It is a constituent of the American Nurses Association and of the United American Nurses, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.