“The hard work is just starting, but nurses are good at hard work”: Cayuga Medical Center Nurses Vote to Join CWA!

On January 15th, after two days of voting, Registered Nurses at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, NY voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining CWA Local 1111.

The 350 Cayuga nurses faced down a tough anti-union campaign launched by hospital management and voted 82% in favor of unionizing, joining the roughly 15,000 healthcare workers already represented by CWA throughout New York and New Jersey.

“The overwhelming victory by CMC nurses is a shining example of what healthcare professionals can achieve when they join together with a collective voice,” said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. “CMC nurses have overwhelmingly and repeatedly voiced their urgent desire for a union contract, and it is time for management to join us at the bargaining table and get to work improving conditions for nurses and their patients.”

Cayuga nurses, recognizing many of the same issues in their hospital that healthcare workers have increasingly sounded the alarm over the past several years, began organizing in order to better fight for improvements. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and other healthcare workers have seen increasing short staffing that can leave them caring for an unsustainable number of patients, compromising patient care and worker safety. 

“The hard work is just starting, but nurses are good at hard work,” said Shane Snyder, In-Patient Wound RN. “We've been delivering quality patient care for years while feeling unsupported and burnt out, and I'm excited to see what we can do with our union behind us. We are tenacious, we are strong, and we are ready to start bargaining our contract.”

“My career as a nurse is something that I’ve always taken such pride in. Now, I have another part of the job to be so proud of,” said Morgan Downing, Cardiac Catheterization RN. “We are laying the groundwork for the generations of nurses to come after us, and we’re already hearing from other medical professionals inspired to join us. I am so excited to have my seat at the table alongside my fellow nurses to start bargaining for our first contract. We are united and ready to continue to advocate for ourselves, our patients, and our community.”

Last week, 37 nurses in the Hematology and Oncology (CHOA) and Surgicare units at CMC also won voluntary recognition from the hospital!