(NEW YORK) - This Thursday, 4,000 Working Bedside Nurses, all Members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), will gather in New York City to set a new, aggressive course for their Union - including a major push to pass Statewide Legislation mandating Safe Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios.

With more than 37,000 Members across the State, NYSNA-Represented Nurses will also focus on taking steps to transform their Union into a more responsive and Democratic Organization that will meet the needs of Working Nurses and the hundreds of thousands of patients they serve each year when they meet at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, NYSNA Officials said.

NYSNA is the largest Union of Registered Nurses in New York State and the oldest Professional Nursing Association in the United States. 

The Union’s Membership includes the more than 8,000 New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation Nurses, who are now fighting Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a Fair Contact and Safe-Staffing. 

In addition, NYSNA also represents thousands of Members from New York's leading Private Hospitals, including Presbyterian, Montefiore, Mount Sinai and St. Luke's-Roosevelt.  Those Members waged a highly-visible contract fight for Safe Staffing, Affordable Health Benefits and Fair Wages last Winter.

Upstate, Nurses at the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo and at the Westchester Medical Center are also NYSNA Members, as are Nurses at dozens of other Community Hospitals, Clinics and School Districts across the State.

"Our Union is unique," Patricia Donahue, a Registered Nurse (RN) from Ellis Hospital in Schenectady said. "We speak for ourselves and our families, but we also speak for our communities and our patients and their need for quality Health Care."

NYSNA’s New York City meeting caps a year of transformation in the Union, which saw new Leadership elected in the Fall and unprecedented Member Activity in last Winter's successful contract fights that sparked national news coverage.

NYSNA plans to take a leading role on the principal Health Care issue for New York's Caregivers - strong Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios.  Judy Sheridan Gonzalez, who serves as President of the Local Bargaining Unit at Montefiore Medical Center/Moses Division, said: "We will take this fight from Manhattan to Albany, from the Hospital Floors to Management's Offices, to whomever is blocking our way.  Our message is simple: We are Nurses.  We know what works.  Safe-staffing saves lives."

NYSNA -  The Voice For Nursing In The Empire State, which supports Nurses and Nursing Practice through Education, Research, Legislative Advocacy and Collective Bargaining - also represents some all Professional Bargaining Units in New Jersey.

On the agenda, NYSNA Representatives will:

Vote on a series of changes to NYSNA’s By-Laws, the rules that govern how their Union is run.  The proposed changes will make NYSNA more responsive to the needs of bedside nurses and their patients.

Under the new rules, NYSNA’s Elected Leaders will have full power to set the course of the organization.  Old NYSNA Rules prevented Elected Leaders from having a say on organizational support and resources to win good Contracts, support Strikes and other Union Business.

NYSNA will eliminate the position of Chief Executive Officer and replace it with an Executive Director, which will work to better reflect core Union Values of Democracy and Accountability.

The new rules will allow only Working Bedside Nurses to serve as Elected Leaders of the NYSNA, which will ensure Working Nurses set the agenda for their Union.