Brooklyn Methodist nurses rally for fair contract, safe staffing, workplace violence protections * Brooklyn Paper

"They called for a fair contract with enforceable safe staffing standards to ensure adequate nurse-to-patient ratios, stronger protections against workplace violence, greater respect for nurses' clinical judgment over artificial intelligence (AI) in patient care, and improved wages and benefits."

"The union contract for nearly 1,600 nurses at NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital expired April 30. The negotiations come on the heels of the largest nurses strike in New York City's history, when 15,000 nurses stood on the picket line for 41 days and secured a new contract that includes more than 12% salary increases over three years, improved staffing ratios, workplace violence protections, and safeguards against AI."

"Union representatives say hospital management has refused to engage in meaningful negotiations over minimum staffing standards intended to ensure patient and nurse safety, despite ongoing assaults on staff and violent incidents, including a fatal shooting on Jan. 8. In that incident, a 62-year-old patient experiencing a mental health crisis barricaded himself with others and threatened people with a sharp object before being shot and killed by NYPD officers."

""Management wants to reimagine, that's the word they use, to staff and strip down our grid, and not have minimum staffing numbers in our contract," Crespino said. "That means we're not guaranteeing enough frontline nurses and staff in our facility,""

NYSNA nurses rallied outside NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope during Nurses Week with elected officials. They demanded a fair contract that includes enforceable safe staffing standards and adequate nurse-to-patient ratios, stronger protections against workplace violence, and greater respect for nurses’ clinical judgment over artificial intelligence in patient care. They also sought improved wages and benefits. The nurses’ union contract for nearly 1,600 nurses expired April 30. Negotiations follow New York City’s largest nurses strike, which secured salary increases, improved staffing ratios, workplace violence protections, and safeguards against AI. Union representatives said hospital management refused meaningful negotiations on minimum staffing standards despite assaults and violent incidents, including a fatal shooting on Jan. 8.

Read at Brooklyn Paper