Tuesday, May 24th @ 8:30: NLRB Hearings to Resume Thru Day: CMC Nurses Federal ‘Unfair Labor Practices’ Hearing Begins
What: National Labor Relations Board Hearing Against Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) for federal Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) Continues
Where: 214 W. State St, Ithaca (County Office for Aging, corner Albany and W. MLK/State)
When: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24th. Open to the Public
Come support our nurses! See details below about CMC Nurses campaign.
The unionization campaign launched by registered nurses at Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) in 2015 is ongoing and building momentum with support from others within the hospital and community. Many private homes and businesses in Tompkins, Cortland, and Cayuga Counties proudly display yard signs supporting the union effort (you too can get one at the Workers’ Center!).
Ken Franklin, originally from Ithaca with strong family ties to the community, and organizer with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, underscores why nurses’ unions are so important. “When RNs have a voice, patient care and health outcomes improve immensely. CMC’s dollars should be spent improving care and defending the health and lives of the community, not fighting a union campaign.”
Representatives of the nurses have had speaking engagements about the campaign, and have been interviewed on WRFI Community Radio and by the Cornell Daily Sun – but other regional news outlets have been reluctant to cover the story, leading Nurses for Change and the Labor-Religion Coalition of the Finger Lakes to circulate a petition to end the media blackout. Hospital nurses have also presented to the City of Ithaca Common Council, whose members submitted a letter of support and asked the hospital administration not to oppose nurses exercising their right to organize.
“Following the behavior of typical corporate America, executives can continue to enrich themselves, even as the organizations they ‘lead’ suffer financial hits from market forces and poor executive decisions. Members of the CMC Board of Directors have a self-serving financial stake in decisions affecting our organization,†says Anne Marshall, RN, regarding CMC’s 2014 tax return that shows executive compensation increases of 8.2-16.9% and bonuses of up to $71,000 despite a net revenue loss and 2014 being the first year in decades that the hospital did not give bonuses to front-line employees.
Andrea Levine, union steward for Workers United Local #2833 at the Ithaca Health Alliance, a local healthcare charity, describes her union’s full support for the nurses’ campaign. “We believe and know from experience that patient care and an environment for healing are improved when health care workers have a voice.â€
April 30, 2016 @ 8:13 pm
I’m very sad to see this, after working as a nurse in the Midwest and east coast I had the privilege to work at CMC and always appreciated the shared governance of our organization. We are professionals with the skills to work with and amongst all disciplines and ranks by being smart communicators and change agents by presenting our needs in a way that maintain the integrity of our profession, the trust of our community we serve and the leaders that understand the dismal threats from state and federal government that hold our facilities ransom through increasing fiscal demands. It’s about working smarter and to our fullest potential, not by taxing yourselves with dues and barriers that send us into divisive disarray. CMC administration appreciates all of you, and since I’ve been away for several years now things may have changed but ask yourselves why. You may want to reconsider your options.