NYSNA Update: March 27, 2026
St. Joseph’s Medical Center Nurses Speak Out
On Thursday, March 26, NYSNA nurses at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers made their demands for safe staffing and real enforcement to protect patients and nurses loud and clear in a speak-out. Nurses sounded the alarm on the rampant understaffing that hospital management is failing to address and detailed the more than 130 official patient safety complaints that nurses filed in the first three months of 2026 alone. Nurses are ready for management to get serious about their proposal to address the hospital’s safety crisis and negotiate a fair contract that helps to recruit and retain enough nurses for safe patient care. Together with allies — including Westchester County Legislator David Tubiolo, Westchester County Legislator and Westchester Putnam County Labor Body Director Jenn Puja, Westchester Putnam County Labor Body Secretary Treasurer Florence McCue, Yonkers City Council Member Corazon Pineda-Isaac and SEIU 32BJ members — nurses showed the hospital that they won’t stop until they get the fair contract their community deserves!
Victory at WMC-HealthAlliance!
After months of bargaining for a fair contract that protects nurses and patients, NYSNA nurses at Westchester Medical Center (WMC)-HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston reached a tentative contract agreement! Nurses have been demanding protection from workplace violence, an issue that has only been growing over the last several years. Despite multiple recent incidents, WMC/HealthAlliance Hospital refused to take proper safety measures to protect patients, nurses and other healthcare workers until nurses spoke out on March 11. After holding a speak-out and raising the alarm, nurses secured a tentative agreement that makes significant steps toward addressing nurse and patient safety. Nurses will begin voting on their tentative contract agreement next week. Congratulations, WMC-HealthAlliance nurses!
Another Victory for North Country Nurses at Elizabethtown!
After months of bargaining for a fair contract that protects nurses and patients, NYSNA nurses at UVM-Elizabethtown Community Hospital also reached a tentative contract agreement. Highlights include securing the NYSNA benefit fund, job security for senior nurses, and the wages and benefits necessary to recruit and retain enough nurses to care for North Country residents. Great work, Elizabethtown nurses! Now it’s time for management at Adirondack, Alice Hyde, and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital to get serious and settle fair contracts!