NYSNA Update: March 6, 2026
The Brooklyn Hospital Center Nurses Continue to Fight for Their Health Benefits
When hospital administrators put nurses’ health at risk, they put patients and the entire community at risk. After nearly five weeks, nurses at The Brooklyn Hospital Center still do not have their health benefits. Nurses have spoken out, demanding that the hospital take immediate action to reinstate their benefits. Over the past month, NYSNA nurses have held rallies, organized speak-outs with elected officials and members, leafleted, marched on Director of Human Resources, organized an email campaign against executives, confronted and marched on CEO, filed an arbitration through the fund, filed a grievance, and are pursuing arbitration via their contract. NYSNA has also launched new Facebook ads running. Nurses continue to escalate every day.
Without their health coverage, nurses and their families are delaying essential treatment and medications, putting themselves and their communities at risk. Frontline healthcare workers shouldn’t be forced to fight for their own healthcare as hospital executives continue to rake in millions while maintaining their own benefits! Nurses continue to go to work and tirelessly care for their patients, and they will continue to fight until they get the benefits they deserve!
BronxCare Nurses Ratify Their Contract!
After the relentless energy that BronxCare nurses put into their campaign for a fair contract, they now have a ratified contract. Following the momentum of contract victories at other safety net hospitals and striking hospitals, BronxCare nurses went to the mat for contract improvements, including protections on workplace violence and safe staffing standards. They locked in improvements in staffing levels and enforcement, the NYSNA health plan at no cost, and wage and experience pay gains. The emergency department now has a guarantee of four additional staff per shift, night and day ratios were equalized in psych floors, and a mixed acuity unit will have tighter ratios. Nurses will enjoy additional paid time off and improved differentials.
Congratulations, BronxCare nurses, and now the work of enforcing the contract begins!
New Report Analyzes Decline in Access to Quality Patient Care in New York’s North Country
A new report, which NYSNA released earlier this week, sounds the alarm on the crisis of care in New York’s rural North Country. The report, “Protecting Rural Patients and Communities: Access to Care and Hospital Consolidation in the North Country,” which Politico and the Press-Republican covered, details how decades of systemic disinvestment, hospital consolidation, service reductions and bed closures have eroded access to care in the region. It also explains the disastrous impact that federal funding cuts will have on hospitals, patients and healthcare workers if hospitals and the state do not take steps to protect care. Given how vital hospitals are to the region’s health and economy, this report makes a case for how New York can protect hospitals and patients from these cuts as well as increase transparency during the closure process and provide sufficient financial incentives for hospitals to fully staff and operate services that would otherwise be at risk of closure. This report is the latest in years of NYSNA member advocacy in the North Country. Read the full report here.
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