Hundreds of NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Nurses Picketed to Protest Cuts to Care for Brooklyn Patients

New York, NY: On Thursday, May 4, 2023 hundreds of NYSNA nurses from NewYorkPresbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital picketed in the rain outside of the hospital to protest cuts to care for Brooklyn patients. Nurses were joined on the picket line by elected leaders and allies. Despite other private-sector hospitals in New York City settling fair contracts with nurses, NYP-Brooklyn Methodist management wants to strip patient care protections from the nurses’ union contract and to reduce staffing levels in Labor and Delivery, Mother-Baby, Chemotherapy Infusion, and other units.

NYSNA nurses at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, whose union contract expired on April 30th, are fighting for a fair contract that protects Brooklyn patients. Hospital management is trying to roll back patient safety protections that ensure that there is always a qualified nurse at the bedside of every patient. And NYP-Brooklyn Methodist continues to refuse to reopen an in-patient psychiatric unit Brooklyn patients depend on, leaving the emergency room overcrowded and patients without the care they need.

When NewYork-Presbyterian took over Methodist, they promised to increase investments and services to the community hospital, but they have gone back on their word to invest in Brooklyn's safety and health, and nurses are saying enough is enough.

Diane Bonet, RN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, said: “I love being a pediatric nurse, but understaffing throughout my hospital is so stressful. Now NYPBrooklyn Methodist wants to cut nurse staffing even more and lower patient care standards. As hard as nurses work and as much as we care, we cannot meet a safe standard of care if our administration refuses to staff enough qualified, trained nurses in every unit of the hospital. Brooklyn patients deserve better.”

Al Crispino, RN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, said: “If there’s anything we’ve learned from the pandemic it’s that staffing at the bare minimum means that we aren’t prepared for a crisis. Nurses are asking for safe staffing and respect, but NYP-Brooklyn Methodist wants to keep our staffing and pay low. We’re calling on NYP-Brooklyn Methodist to listen to frontline nurses and settle a fair contract now.”

Irving Campbell, RN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, said: “There is a huge need for inpatient mental healthcare in Brooklyn and throughout New York, but NYP-Brooklyn Methodist refuses to reopen the psych unit they closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss of these beds has impacted our community and the rest of the hospital—our ER is sometimes crowded with mentally unstable patients who wait in chairs for days for care. We’re calling on NYPMethodist to deliver the healthcare services and staffing that Brooklyn needs.”

Allyson Selby, RN at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist said: “ Whether you’re a patient in Manhattan or in Brooklyn, you deserve quality care with enough trained nurses to care for you. Instead, NYPBrooklyn Methodist is trying to shortchange Brooklyn patients and nurses. NY Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin is consistently at the top of the list of highest-paid healthcare CEOs, yet NYP wants its Brooklyn nurses to settle for wages below the industry standard that their own hospital system set.”

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “NYP-Brooklyn Methodist has no excuse not to deliver a fair contract that matches the wage increases that other New York City NYSNA nurses won in January, and uphold the safe staffing levels and other important provisions in the contract. We are united in demanding NewYorkPresbyterian stop short-changing Brooklyn nurses and patients!” l