Mandatory Overtime Agreement in New York!

You are right about nurse-to-patient ratios! We have a bill submitted in NY to set ratios for hospitals and other acute care settings, as well as a separate bill for nurses and CNAs in nursing homes. However, it was very important to get a ban on mandatory overtime first, so employers would not make up those ratios by mandating nurses......

They can make you work short now, no? We do need to work for the ratio law--it took nurses over 6 years of work to get this historic agreement in New York. I'm sure it will take a lot of work to get staffing ratios, but we (nurses of the 1199SEIU Nurse Alliance) are in it for the long run. And it will be a loooong run! Come join us in Albany next Spring when we lobby for safe staffing! All nurses are welcome.

In fact, most every union that represents nurses in New York State, including NYSNA, were united on this OT bill.

In NY, the current legislative session will end on June 23rd, and re-open officially in January, at which time the safe staffing bill will be re-introduced. I hope we will all continue to work in coalition on our common issues, as we have been able to do for several years now. Work behind the scenes will start much sooner, includingraising nurses awareness of the staffing bill.

But the first thing to do right now--on the basis of positive reinforcement-- is to write to your legislators and thank them for supporting the bill to restrict mandatory overtime. The next priority will be safe staffing, but we need them to pass this bill as promised first. (They will.)