(SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK) - New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Members who are employed at Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Women’s Center in Schenectady have voted to authorize a three-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) Strike by 94% margin.

The Strike Vote took place over five days in late May.  It gives elected Nurse Leaders at Ellis the authority to submit a 10-day Strike notice to management at any time going forward.

More than 600 Nurses at the two facilities could Strike unless a tentative contract agreement is reached. 

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

In early May, 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. 

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said: “Ellis Hospital and Bellevue Woman’s Center Nurses have the support of our entire (42,000)-Member-strong Union behind them.  Nurses never take the decision to strike lightly, but if Ellis management forces our colleagues to take to the streets to protect patient care, we will be there with them every step of the way.”  

The ULP Strike Vote came on the heels of a huge victory for Ellis Nurses who’ve been sounding the alarm about unsafe staffing levels.

On May 21st, a neutral, third-party arbitrator found Ellis has consistently and pervasively failed to follow the Safe Staffing Standards stipulated in the NYSNA contract.

The arbitrator ordered Ellis to compensate Nurses working in units affected by understaffing 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 an arbitrator has awarded financial restitution for hospital understaffing to NYSNA Nurses in an Upstate New York Hospital.  

NYSNA is New York’s largest Union and Professional Association for Registered Nurses (RNs) and is an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the country's largest and fastest-growing Union and Professional Association of RNs with more than 225,000 Members nationwide. 

To Read This Labor News Report In Its Entirety, Go To: Ellis Nurses Authorize 3-Day ULP Strike | New York State Nurses Association (nysna.org)

Graphic Courtesy Of NYSNA’s Facebook Page.