Nurses’ union breaks ground on new midtown office

A nerve center in campaign to win safe nurse staffing legislation

NEW YORK CITY, September 10, 2012 — The New York State Nurses Association is breaking ground on a new Midtown office, this Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 5:30 PM at 131 West 33rd St.

Association leaders say the office will be the nerve center to mobilize members for a grassroots campaign to pass safe nurse staffing legislation.

Nurses are backing a bill that would set a limit on the number of patients a nurse can be forced to care for at a time. Currently, hospital administrators can force nurses to care for 9, 10, or even more patients at a time.

Just blocks from Penn Station, the new office will include a communications center, a phone banking center, meeting space for nurses, and the union’s new strategic research operation.

“We’re building a grassroots campaign to pass safe nurse staffing legislation,” says Nancy Kaleda, NYSNA Deputy Director. “This new office will be a place where nurses from all over the metropolitan New York City area can come together and help shape the future of their union and nursing.”

NYSNA represents nurses at some of the city’s biggest hospitals – including New York-Presbyterian, Montefiore, Maimonides, Mt. Sinai, St. Luke’s Roosevelt, Bellevue, and the entire HHC system.

A new direction for nurses’ union

The new office is part of a new, more militant direction for the nurses’ union.

In May, thousands of nurses voted for new union rules that increase direct member control over their organization.

“Corporate greed is destroying healthcare and hurting our patients,” says Kaleda. “It’s time to push back and demand the care that our patients deserve.”

The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is New York’s largest professional association and union for registered nurses. The association represents registered nurses, and some all-professional bargaining units, in New York and New Jersey. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.

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