Brooklyn, N.Y.– NYSNA nurses held an emergency rally and press conference October 22nd in response to New York City’s Kings County Hospital’s decision to suspend a local nurse leader.
A nurse practitioner and vice president of the local bargaining unit at the hospital was suspended without pay from Kings County on Friday, Oct. 9 for advocating for patient safety and discussing documented and long-standing staffing concerns raised by bedside nurses.
NYC Health and Hospitals suspended the NYSNA member without pay and limited her access to facilities, despite not filing specific charges against her. Kings County nurses, hospital staff, labor and community allies responded to the news of the nurse’s suspension by circulating a petition calling for her immediate reinstatement and compensation for lost wages; nearly 1,000 people have signed the petition since its launch.
During the rally and press conference, NYSNA members from Kings County demanded that hospital administrators reinstate the suspended nurse leader and stop retaliating against nurses for protected union activity. NYSNA will also file an improper practice charge against the health system.
Jack McShane, RN, NYSNA member and emergency department nurse at Kings County Hospital, said: “This is a fight to protect our rights to enforce our safe staffing ratios, to fight for healthcare worker and patient safety and to organize our union. This is about whether or not we as nurses are going to accept a culture of intimidation and retaliation, where we aren’t allowed to discuss and organize around working conditions with our co-workers. I’ll tell you right now: we will not!”
“We are talking about an experienced and dedicated nurse practitioner being suspended without pay for advocating for the tools needed to improve safety and patient care. That is unacceptable, and we are so pleased that our Health and Hospitals frontline staff and Brooklyn community is protesting this egregious act of worker intimidation,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN.
