NYSNA member, Sarah Dowd, returned to work on November 2nd, following a suspension by NYC Health and Hospitals for unionizing activities while on-the-job.
“This was total bullshit and I think that we proved that,” Dowd said of Kings County’s claims that her union activities interfered with professional duties. “Now we’re going to go back to doing the work of making sure the hospital is following its contractual obligations, and state law, around safe staffing.”
NYC Health & Hospitals suspended Dowd, NYSNA Vice President on Oct. 9, alleging that she was conducting union activities rather than providing patient care where she worked at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn. Union officials believe that the NYC Health & Hospitals network tried sending a message to nurses about confronting the administration regarding patient care issues including safe staffing.
NYSNA conducted a demonstration outside of Kings County Hospital on October 22nd and initiated an extensive campaign that included support from unions throughout New York, doctor organizations, patient care associations and community leaders – and hospital management backed down. NYSNA noted that the suspension was a coordinated effort by hospital management to stop nurses from organizing and advocating for the enforcement of state-mandated staffing ratios and safe-staffing policies. Nurses at Kings County and throughout the NYC Health & Hospitals system, as well as the private sector continue to confront chronic understaffing, unsafe working conditions, and management practices that put both workers and patients at risk.
NYSNA Nurses at Kings County Hospital said nurses often care for eight to nine patients, and sometimes as many as 12 or 13, despite a five-patient maximum mandated by their union contract and New York state staffing law.
“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 & Hospitals frontline staff and Brooklyn community is protesting this egregious act of worker intimidation,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement.
