CWAers Lobby for Safe Staffing

CWA members from Locals 1103, 1111, 1122, 1133 and 1168 descended on the New York State Capitol, joined by healthcare workers from across the state, to tell their stories and urge lawmakers to pass safe staffing legislation.

CWA, joined by NYSNA, NYSUT, PEF, and Statewide Senior Action Council, let politicians know that patient care -- not profit margins -- should be the bottom line in healthcare. When nurses care for two to three times the patients they can safely manage, the research shows the chances of preventable death, hospital acquired infections, and adverse outcomes increase.

Hospital CEOs are paid millions of dollars a year based on financial performance, not how well our mothers, fathers, newborns, and loved ones recover. When the average hospital executive makes 75 times more than the average worker at the bedside, but investments aren’t being made in direct patient care, something is wrong.

Nearly one thousand healthcare workers, patients, and loved ones took to the Capitol to spread the message that safe staffing saves lives. Not only did our members talk to elected officials, they had the opportunity to hear our own Cori Gambini, president of CWA Local 1168, speak alongside Assemblymember Dick Gottfried, Statewide Senior Action Council Executive Director María Alvarez, and President of the New York State Nurses Union, Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez.

The Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act will set nurse-to-patient ratios in New York healthcare facilities. A bipartisan coalition is supporting it in both the New York State Assembly and Senate.