(SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK) – More than 600 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Caregivers employed at Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Women’s Center have begun voting on whether to authorize a three-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike.

NYSNA Nurses have been fighting for a fair Union contract for more than a year and say they’re most concerned about safe staffing and winning a contract that helps recruit and retain enough Nurses to provide safe patient care.

Results of the strike vote will be announced next week.

Earlier this month, NYSNA filed ULP Charges against Ellis for intimidating and surveilling Nurses for speaking out and talking to Co-Workers about working conditions and Union negotiations.

Monika Wezenaar-Iannotti, a Registered Nurse at Ellis Hospital's Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, said: “Ellis management needs to stop harassing and intimidating Nurses and instead come to the table and settle a fair contract with safe staffing for our patients.  Striking is always a very last resort, but if Ellis management gives us no other choice, we are ready to do whatever it takes to protect our patients and our community.  Ellis Nurses deserve respect for the work we do and our patients deserve the very best care.”

Separately, in a huge victory for Ellis Hospital Nurses who’ve been sounding the alarm about unsafe staffing levels, on Tuesday (May 21st) a New York State Arbitrator found Ellis Hospital had consistently and pervasively failed to follow the Safe Staffing Standards stipulated in the NYSNA contract.

The Arbitrator ordered Ellis Hospital to compensate Nurses working in Patient Care Units affected by short-staffing whose workloads significantly increased because of the hospital’s violation of the NYSNA contract.

Impacted Nurses include those who provide care for ICU patients, step-down patients, medical-surgical patients, emergency room patients and psychiatric patients.

This is the first time a neutral, third-party Arbitrator has awarded financial restitution for hospital understaffing to NYSNA Nurses in an Upstate New York Hospital.

Eleven Nurses, representing seven different Patient Care Units, testified in detail during five intensive days of hearing regarding their daily short staffing and struggles to provide safe patient care.

Meanwhile, Ellis Hospital continues to spend big on temporary Nurse staffing to fill the staffing gaps caused by management’s failure to recruit and retain Staff Nurses.  

Ellis still has a 20% vacancy rate - and, according to 990 financial findings, spent a whopping $8.5 million on just one staffing agency in 2022.

NYSNA estimates the vast majority of that money went to hiring temporary Agency Nurses, who are currently paid around $64 per hour.

The average starting pay for Staff Nurses at Ellis is $36 per hour.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Story, Go To: Arbitrator Finds Ellis in Violation of Safe Staffing Standards as Nurses Begin Strike Authorization Vote | New York State Nurses Association (nysna.org)

Graphic Courtesy Of NYSNA's Facebook Page.