KINGSTON – Benedictine Hospital nurses are seeking to organize with the New York State Nurses Association and they say management at the Kingston hospital has rejected the request for “a fair election campaign.”

The nurses maintain there are insufficient nurse staffing, non-competitive salaries, and lack of incentives to retain experienced nurses at the hospital.

“We are seeking a unified voice to address workplace issues and the support of a union that represents more than 36,000 RNs,” said Mary D’Orazio an RN on the Benedictine organizing committee. “We sought the help of a labor union because so much more can be accomplished by working together.”

The nurses filed a petition for election on June 17 with the National Labor Relations Board. A letter was presented by the nurses' organizing committee to hospital CEO Thomas Dee later that day asking that the election campaign be a period of free and fair discussion and debate on union representation.

The request was rejected, with Dee saying in a letter to the nurses: “We will fight NYSNA's every effort to inject itself into the Benedictine community.”