More than 200 NYSNA RNs picketed on the sidewalk outside New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, Brooklyn on Monday, March 16. They were outside the hospital on two shifts, from 7 am – 9 am and from Noon to 2 pm. NYSNA has approximately 918 RNs working at Methodist.
Their contract expired on March 15. At the time of the picket, there had been 12 negotiating sessions, with another scheduled for March 20.
The main sticking point in negotiations are patient to nurse staffing ratios, and more specifically, language in the contract to enforce ratios already in place.
The Methodist nurses have placed ads in Brooklyn newspapers, leafleted the community, and circulated a petition among the nurses. They are wearing NYSNA scrub tops every Wednesday, until they settle their contract.
“When you have less nurses, you have a greater risk for patients,” said Irving Campbell, a Methodist RN for the past six years. “We all wanted to become nurses because we care. That is the bottom line.”