Recruitment, staffing among the issues for the picketers
CARMEL – Working without a contract since joining the New York State Nurses Association last December, some three dozen nurses picketed in front of Putnam Hospital Center Friday demanding a fair and equitable contract.
Carrying signs, the nurses paraded in front of the county’s only medical center on Stoneleigh Avenue in Carmel as passing vehicles honked their horns.
Michael Chitty, a registered nurse in the hospital’s Behavioral Health Unit for the past seven years, urged hospital administration to agree to a pact that “will help us recruit and retain the best nurses in the field. We are looking for better staffing, better resources and support from our administration in the care that is delivered daily in the units.”
Chitty stressed that “no patients are in danger. We are doing a fine job since our nurses are some of the most dedicated professionals in the field who work night and day. All we are asking is that a contract be ratified that places quality patient care ahead of profits.”
Chitty described PHC as a “unique and special medical facility. It is most unfair for corporate to compare us with other hospitals. We deserve a unique and special contract.”
Hospital President Peter Kelly visited the picketers. He said “negotiations were ongoing. Contracts are not resolved overnight and the talks have been ongoing for longer than many people expected.”
Kelly checked on the informational picketers to make sure they were safe: “I allowed them to march on the hospital grounds because I didn’t want them walking along Stoneleigh Avenue with traffic speeding by.”
Kelly remained optimistic that a contract would be settled. “Everyone is being respectful towards one another. This is part of the process to reach a negotiated contract.”
