TODAY: NYSNA Nurses to Announce Results of Strike Authorization Vote for Nurses at Catholic Health System/St. Charles Hospital
**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, JUNE 12 AT NOON**
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
NYSNA NURSES TO ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE FOR NURSES AT CATHOLIC HEALTH SYSTEM/ ST. CHARLES HOSPITAL
With Contract Expired and Hospital Management Failing to Address Staffing Crisis, St. Charles Nurses Take Strike Authorization Vote
Port Jefferson, N.Y. – This week, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Catholic Health System/ St. Charles Hospital took a strike authorization vote. The vote came after their contract expired on March 31 and after negotiating in over a dozen bargaining sessions. This vote gives the NYSNA nurses’ bargaining committee the authority to call a strike if hospital management fails to agree to a contract that protects safe patient care.
WHAT: Strike Vote Announcement Press Conference
WHO: NYSNA nurse leaders from St. Charles Hospital and allies, including the Long Island Federation of Labor
WHEN: June 12 at noon
WHERE: St. Charles Hospital, 200 Belle Terre Rd, Port Jefferson, NY 11777
Near the corner of Belle Terre and Myrtle Ave.
Safe staffing is a huge patient safety issue at St. Charles. The hospital is regularly understaffed and recently assigned 1 nurse to care for 5 NICU babies—that’s more than double the safe, legal standard of care in New York state. St. Charles nurses submit between 100 to 200 complaints to hospital management about staffing every month. After a New York State Department of Health investigation found the hospital had a consistent pattern of understaffing, the hospital has still failed to hire and retain enough nurses to meet basic safety standards.
In 2024, NYSNA reviewed extensive data showing that the emergency department was almost never staffed as required by the contract. NYSNA filed for an arbitration to enforce the contract, and on the day of the scheduled hearing, St. Charles administrators agreed to recruit more nurses to maintain safe staffing standards in the department. More than a year and a half after that agreement, St. Charles has failed to recruit the nurses it agreed to hire. In addition, NYSNA has filed for three separate arbitrations on staffing.
St. Charles hospital executives are flouting New York’s safe staffing law, the staffing standards in the nurses’ contract, and putting patient safety at risk. Nurses are demanding enforceable safe staffing standards at St. Charles to hold the hospital accountable for patient and nurse safety.
St. Charles nurses are among approximately 1,000 Catholic Health nurses at three hospitals currently negotiating contracts. The contract for NYSNA nurses at St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage expired on March 31, and the contract for NYSNA nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown is set to expire July 31. NYSNA nurses at all three hospitals are united in demanding contracts that deliver safe staffing, protections from workplace violence, and fair wages.
They have launched a petition campaign, organized in their community, and done joint campaign days at their hospitals to win fair contracts.
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The New York State Nurses Association represents approximately 45,000 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.