Certain practices at GMC risk the safety of our patients, the security of our licenses, and the sanity of our coworkers.

When we met management at the bargaining table this week, we made it clear that the status quo cannot continue. We focused on two key issues—excessive floating and break relief—both of which directly impact patient care.

We know that many Nurses are floated to high-intensity units where they aren’t accustomed to working, often without proper orientation. For example, Tele Nurses are constantly floated to the Critical Care Unit, often after Critical Care Nurses have been canceled. The result is that there are holes in Telemetry units, and stressed and anxious Tele RNs scrambling to save Critical Care patients. At times, nearly half the RNs in the CCU are from somewhere else.

Instead of supporting Nurses who want to provide quality patient care, management is shuffling us around the hospital like pawns on a chess board. Our proposals are designed to put an end to this risky practice.

We also know that many Nurses are pressured to take breaks with no one to relieve them, even while they’re in the midst of patient care. Nurses are penalized for being a minute late to or from their break. When Nurses request a copy of their break waiver, supervisors fail to provide it.

We’re left asking: what are they trying to hide? Management must take these issues and our other concerns seriously—a point we’ll continue to drive home at the table.