Mount Sinai RNs fighting for a FAIR contract!

Related: Images: February 2008 Union Events

NEW YORK , Feb 22, 2008 — More than 400 registered nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital took part in informational picketing on a chilly Feb. 21, to fight for better working conditions.

Mount Sinai RNs been trying through contract negotiations to solve staffing problems by improving the hospital’s ability to recruit and retain nurses, such as an increase in longevity pay. But management has continued to demand givebacks that will make staffing worse, including:

Requiring RNs to be out of work for more than eight days before they can claim sick time. If they’re sick for less than eight days, the nurses would have to use their personal time. Management also wants to require nurses to make up on weekends any time they’ve missed while sick.

Eroding seniority rights, starting with granting priority for vacation time. Management also wants to limit when this vacation time can be used. The nurses believe this discriminates against experienced nurses and is intended to undermine the strength of the nurses’ union.

Offering salary increases of 2%, which is not only below inflation, but below the average annual increase earned by RNs at other Manhattan medical centers. Anything higher would be subject to pay-for-performance standards that would be determined solely by management.

Current short staffing problems are evidence that Mount Sinai is simply not doing enough to hold onto its nurses We’re all are trying to make their work environment better, but cuts like these will just drive good nurses away.

Want to know what’s going on in negotiations? Call the NYSNA negotiations hotline at 212.785.0157, ext 173.

With more than 36,000 members, the New York State Nurses Association is the nation's oldest and largest state nurses’ association. NYSNA fosters high standards of nursing education, research, and practice; engages in legislative activity; and provides collective bargaining services to registered nurses. Its mission is to advance the profession of nursing and protect the public's health.

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