News from New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF)

For more information contact: Darcy Wells, 785-1900 Ext. 277

Union Nurses to Rally for Patient Safety at State Capitol

Hundreds will gather urging safe staffing, end to Mandatory Overtime

ALBANY, NY (06/09/2008; 0951)(readMedia)-- On Tuesday, June 10, hundreds of nurses from five prominent nurses’ unions will fill the plaza in front the Capitol steps calling for legislation that would ban mandatory overtime and ensure safe nurse staffing levels.

The rally will begin at 11:15 a.m. on the East steps of the Capitol, and will feature brief comments from nurses, representatives of the participating unions, and state legislators including, Sen. Joseph Bruno, Sen. Thomas Morahan, Sen. Malcolm Smith, Sen. Kemp Hannon, Assembly Member James Tedisco, Assembly Member Aileen Gunther, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and Assembly Member Susan John.

Busloads of nurses from across the state including members of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF), the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), and the Nurse Alliance of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East will be wearing brightly colored t-shirts, waving signs and blowing whistles to make sure their voices are heard.

Nurses from every region of the state will be available for interviews to discuss how short staffing and mandatory overtime impact patient care.

Mandatory overtime is a major cause of the current nursing shortage nationwide. Every major nurses union in New York supports legislative bill S.6342 (Morahan)/A.1898 B (Gunther) to prohibit mandatory overtime.

For more information please call:

New York State Public Employees Federation – Darcy Wells (518) 785-1900 ext. 274

New York State Nurses Association – Mark Genovese (518) 782-9400 ext. 353

Communications Workers of America – Terri Schelter (716) 816-1168

New York State United Teachers – Carl Korn (518) 213-6000 ext. 6313

Nurse Alliance of 1199 SEIU – Mindy Berman (518) 229-0486

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