UPDATE! Politico exposes NYSNA Corruption and Dysfunction

The Staff has been Ordered NOT To Share This Article with the members!

Spread it Far and Wide

Today Politico published an article telling the world what most of us already know.

“‘A year from hell’: The war inside the state’s largest nurses union”

Covid was just the icing on the cake. We lost Jill Furillo. We lost more than half a dozen experienced competent members of the union leadership, (all of which were hired by Jill and most were women of color).

Political power down the drain.

“They’re eating their own,” a Cuomo administration official told POLITICO, requesting anonymity to speak freely. “They went from being major players to bit players because their leadership does one thing and their membership does the other.”

“[The union’s] job is to work with all lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to deliver on the agenda for the members. NYSNA has a really good way of being able to do that work,” said one NYSNA staffer. “The DSA does not deal with their politics that way.”

State officials say the approach has been short-sighted and has been worsened by growing internal dysfunction which makes it harder for the union to grow its membership and secure better working conditions, especially amid the pandemic.

For the 2020 primary, NYSNA members interviewed politicians in a manner described by three individuals as “humiliating” and “hostile.” 

“I left there so angry,” said one veteran lawmaker. “I never felt so disrespected in a room in my whole career.”

Is it any wonder why Albany Med still doesn’t have a contract? H&H are already suffering layoffs and our safe staffing bill is nowhere to be found!

NYSNA’s seeming decline in influence was illustrated most recently by the state health department’s long-awaited “safe staffing” study, which determined that minimum nurse-to-patient ratios at hospitals and nursing homes were not feasible in New York. Nurses have long pushed for better ratios, arguing proper care requires fewer patients per nurse.

Does anyone really believe this would have happened with Jill in charge!

The ideological push has meant a more militant approach toward politicians the union doesn’t consider progressive, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite their reliance on Albany support for passing laws that will benefit members. 

State officials say the approach has been short-sighted and has been worsened by growing internal dysfunction which makes it harder for the union to grow its membership and secure better working conditions, especially amid the pandemic.

…….NYSNA has not been able to achieve larger legislative goals compared to other unions that represent health care workers like 1199 SEIU and DC37. Some legislators said the union has been difficult to work with under Kane’s leadership.

Adding insult to injury

helped shepherd NY A375, a whistleblower bill introduced by NYSNA member Assemblymember Karines Reyes;

According to Judy Sheridan Gonzalez NYSNA is taking credit for the work Karines is doing! Judy is the same person who made sure the union didn’t support Karines in her campaign and in fact supported her competition. Karines’ is yet another woman of color Judy and her minions threw under the bus. Now they want to take credit for the good work Karines is doing!

The simple facts are: we are weaker everywhere! Staffing is worse than it has ever been! Layoffs and furloughs are taking place all over the city in almost every hospital both public and private. H&H members may not even get their raises! Management is walking all over us!

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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