MEET THE BARGAINING COMMITTEE

Here are just a few of the members who worked hard to move management at the table.

DAMIAN KIRKPATRICK Clerical Support Associate, Northwell Health LIJ Forest Hills

“I’ve always been an active member for nine years, but this is my first time on the bargaining committee. I was helping to disseminate information before. This time I wanted to become more actively involved.

"We know that positive movement takes time. But we will always fight for what’s right. Management is setting high standards for us and we meet them every single day. We expect basic common decency in return. It hurts that we have to fight for it.”

ADRIENNE FRYE

PCT in ER at NYU Langone

“These wage increases are long overdue. I was having to do overtime so much that my whole body is tired. I have worked at the hospital for eight years and it’s time for a change.

“I have co-workers here who are homeless. That doesn't make any sense. This increase is highly needed for all of us. With rents so high, some of us re only one paycheck away from being homeless. We work hard each and every day and we come home and our bodies are worn.”

NICOLE FRITH

LPN,

“We needed raises, but we also need our respect. During Covid we were one of the nursing homes that saw many patients pass away. We worked over and over again 12, 16, 18 and some of us 24 hour shifts at the height of the pandemic. We should be recognized, respected and paid for the traumatic times that we went through. We need to be able to give quality care to our patients. But also quality care to our own families, who we also care for.”

JANE GERENCSER RN, Good Samaritan Hospital, Suffern, NY

“My unit was converted to a Covid unit when the pandemic started. I went from 8 hour shifts to 12 hours overnight. We were the soldiers, and I was going to answer that call. But it took away my passion for nursing because was not given the resources I needed. We were not listened too. Labor management committee were suspended and licenses were made more flexible. Management took that to mean that they could do whatever they wanted to and they did. Travelling nurses were brought in who earned significantly more. But they were not vested in the community. A high quality healthcare system cannot function without having employees who are vested in the system.

“We need help battling inflation, and the rising cost of living. It is just so hard to keep up with what is going on in these days and times. We’re not even out of the woods yet with the pandemic. We need as much help as we can get.”

AKILAH YOUNG Rehabilitation Tech Union Community Health in the Bronx

“It is very important for us to fight for better wages, because Management has not done right by us. In New York City, even a studio apartment will cost at least $1500 a month in rent. A lot of people have children. Their wages don’t add up.”

HARRY BEYER

PA, NYC Health & Hospitals – Elmhurst

“I have been here for 32 years and I am seeing the hospital losing many good people. One person been there less than a year, but decided to leave in order to get $30,000 bump in pay.

“Those of us who stay end up being overworked. We run the whole ER on Wednesday and Thursday. Roughly 80 percent of PAs have been here less than two years. There is also a shortage of Radiology Techs. It can take hours to get an MRI.”

IAN ANDREWS

LPN, BronxCare special care center nursing home

“When we bargained for the last contract, we took into consideration what management was going through at that time.

"By reopening the contract now, We are simply saying that we also do deserve the same type of raises that some nurses received in their last bargaining. Through the whole pandemic, we’ve been there and we continue to be there and it’s only fair."

SCHEENA TANNIS

RN Brookdale Hospital, Brooklyn, NY

“As Union members, we have one interest and that is to make life livable for all of us. Some of us are working in places where we see agency nurses taking over the institution and 1199 nurses making a fraction of what they do. We are one Union and we respect each other’s roles. I may be giving direction because of my role, but not because I am better than anyone else. We have all lost friends, family and fellow 1199 members in this hospital.”