MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, OCT. 26 AT 12 PM
Contact: Anna Sterling | anna.sterling@nysna.org | 646-673-0419
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
NURSES SOUND ALARM ON CHAOTIC WYNN HOSPITAL OPENING WITH TOO FEW NURSES AS TALKS BREAK DOWN
Days Away from Hospital Opening and Without an Agreement with Nurses, Hospital Administration Asks for Volunteers to Work
With Wynn Management Still Asking for Nurse Pay Cuts, Nurses Demand a Fair Agreement Before Opening Day
Utica, N.Y.– On Oct. 29, Mohawk Valley Health System is planning to open the new Wynn Hospital without a fair agreement in place for its nurses. Currently, MVHS is hemorrhaging staff nurses. The number of nurse vacancies at the new hospital has risen to 250. The proposed cuts to nurse pay and benefits are putting the community at risk. Without a unified agreement for the nurses working at Wynn, opening day will likely be chaotic because the hospital is asking for volunteers to work on opening day and may not open with enough nurses to meet patients’ needs.
After a late night bargaining session, nurses from Faxton St. Luke’s and St. Elizabeth’s are speaking out against Mohawk Valley Health System’s plan to move forward with the Wynn Hospital opening with too few nurses and proposed cuts to nurse wages and benefits.
WHO: Nurses of the New York State Nurses Association, City Councilmember Celeste Friend, labor and community allies
WHAT: Speak-out for a fair, unified agreement for all MVHS nurses at Wynn Hospital
WHEN: Thursday, October 26 at 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: Wynn Hospital, 111 Hospital Drive, Utica, New York 13502 (across from Brooklyn Pickle)
Despite the desperate need to hire and retain more nurses for safe patient care, MVHS continues to propose cuts to night shift pay, increases to nurses’ healthcare premiums, and uneven wage scales which will mean a pay cut for more than half of the nurses transitioning to work at Wynn Hospital.
The nurses are united in demanding the hospital return to the bargaining table to reach a fair agreement that allows the new hospital to recruit and retain enough nurses to provide quality patient care. Nurses say that the proposed cuts will only make understaffing worse as more nurses will potentially leave the bedside.
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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.
