July 29, 2020

Dear Jackie:

We went on strike last month for one reason: to end the unsafe staffing practices at this hospital.

It’s simple, really. Safe staffing saves lives.

In case you missed it, an investigative reporter at the New York Times recently showed that unsafe staffing levels in NYC during their surge were directly tied to dramatically higher mortality rates.

Patients at understaffed hospitals were three times more likely to die. Check it out: https://bit.ly/hosp-staffing

But instead of listening to your frontline Nurses, you dug your heels in. You backed out of an agreement that had led to safer staffing levels. It worked for more than a year. Things were getting better.

And you backed out of that agreement when HCA knew it was in great financial shape and could easily afford to at least staff up to the bare bones Title 22 nurse-to-patient ratio requirements. In fact, HCA’s CEO said that the corporation’s profits in the 2nd quarter this year led to “possibly the most remarkable” quarter he's experienced in his 37 years with HCA.

You left us with no alternative but to strike for safe staffing for our patients. This hospital has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infection among staff. Two of your employees have died.

When we returned to work after our strike, you wasted no time. You immediately retaliated against us by announcing your plans to eliminate our positions. Your plan to replace us with non-Union supervisors who will not provide direct patient care, assist Nurses with invasive bedside procedures, respond to codes and assist rapid response teams at the bedside will only make the staffing crisis worse for patients. Fewer nurses helping other nurses will delay patient care and lead to an increase in patient injuries and possibly even deaths.

As we’re sure you know, you’re throwing away 842 years of service to this hospital and this community. You’re throwing away 57 Nurses who this hospital identifies as leaders, with the experience and skills required to be in a Charge Nurse position. One of us has worked here for 48 years.

We ask that instead of throwing away all this dedication to our patients and to our units, you instead meet us at the bargaining table to figure out how we can return to the path we were on…a path that was improving things at this hospital.

Sincerely,

The Charge Nurses of SEIU Local 121RN