Over 99% of St. Charles Nurses Vote to Authorize a Strike

On Friday, June 11, NYSNA nurses at Catholic Health/ St. Charles Hospital held a press conference to announce the results of a strike authorization vote and to call attention to the ongoing staffing crisis at their hospital. Almost 300 nurses voted, nearly unanimously, to authorize the St. Charles executive committee to call a strike with a 10-day notice if hospital management continues to ignore nurses’ demands and fails to settle a fair contract that ensures safe, quality patient care.  

Newsday, Crain’s, News12 and 1010WINS covered the press conference.  

For months, nurses at St. Charles have been fighting to secure a fair contract that holds their hospital accountable for safe staffing. Despite agreeing to safe staffing standards in nurses’ previous contract, which expired at the end of March, hospital management has consistently disregarded both the previously agreed-upon ratios and New York’s safe staffing laws. After more than a dozen sessions bargaining a new contract, management still refuses to agree to strong safe staffing enforcement mechanisms. Nurses continue to hold strong and demand the staffing necessary to care for their community.  

Tracy Kosciuk, RN, a post-partum nurse who has worked at St. Charles for 38 years, said: “Catholic Health and St. Charles management refuse to address the chronic understaffing issues that nurses are facing. They also refuse to abide by the staffing ratios that we won in our last contract, and that New York’s safe staffing law says they must follow. This is unacceptable and puts our patients at risk.”

What’s Next?

St. Charles nurses have shown hospital management that they aren’t willing to back down from this fight, and hope that the results of the strike authorization vote will push management to negotiate a fair contract that protects patient care. Going on strike is always a last resort for nurses, but St. Charles nurses will do whatever it takes to ensure that hospital management meaningfully addresses the chronic staffing issues they’ve been facing. Keep up the great work, St. Charles nurses!

Across Long Island, NYSNA nurses at Catholic Health/St. Joseph Hospital are also continuing to bargain after their previous contract expired in March. Nurses at Catholic Health/St. Catherine of Siena have also begun bargaining a new contract. Nurses at all three hospitals are united in their demands for fair contracts that deliver safe staffing, protections from workplace violence and fair wages.

To support NYSNA nurses in their fight to protect patient care at Catholic Health, sign the petition.