Dear Friend,

Celebrating Occupational Health Nurses

Happy Occupational Health Nurses Week! Occupational health nurses play a key role in keeping workers safe by delivering care and leading workplace health and safety efforts. They are essential to healthy, secure work environments.

SIUH Nurses Take Action

On April 3, NYSNA members at Northwell/Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) told Northwell management: NYSNA nurses will not tolerate short staffing and unjust discipline! When Northwell/SIUH unjustly terminated two senior nurses, NYSNA members at the hospital circulated a petition demanding their reinstatement. By the time grievance hearings took place, members had gathered over 600 petition signatures. On Friday, members followed up these hearings with a march on the boss to deliver the petition. There can be no mistake: When Northwell/SIUH short staffs and scapegoats nurses, NYSNA nurses will not back down!

Join Us for the Next Single Payer Committee Meeting Next Week!

Now, more than ever, it is essential that we fight to protect healthcare access. The New York Health Act would guarantee universal, single-payer healthcare for all New Yorkers, creating a healthcare system that addresses healthcare disparities and that covers everyone. As healthcare workers and advocates, it’s our duty to come together and fight for quality care for our communities. To be a part of the fight for healthcare justice, join NYSNA’s Single Payer Committee’s next virtual meeting on Wednesday, Apr. 15, at 8 p.m. We invite all members to attend; to do so, sign up here to receive updates.

NYSNA Speaks Out to Protect New York’s Essential Plan and Patients

On Friday, NYSNA Board Member Sonia Lawrence, BSN, RN, spoke at NYC Health+Hospitals/Lincoln alongside labor and elected allies — including the Committee of Interns and Residents/Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Doctors Council/SEIU, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, Democratic Socialists of America and others — to demand that Albany use funding to fill in federal funding gaps in the Essential Plan. If the state doesn’t do more to protect our communities, nearly a half million New Yorkers on the Essential Plan could lose coverage this summer. Lawrence and others spoke about how vital it is for the state to use its own funds to continue the Essential Plan. Our state needs to use existing revenues and resources to step in where our federal government has tragically abandoned us and tax the rich to pay for the services that keep New Yorkers healthy; otherwise, our patients and communities will suffer.

Save the Date: Legislative Lobby Day on May 5

Protecting our patients and ensuring nurses are able to give the best care possible requires using our political power to get the policies that protect nurses and patients. Going to Albany and speaking directly with legislators is an essential part of that work. Join NYSNA members in Albany for a legislative lobby day to make sure legislators hear our voices and protect our communities. Sign up using this form, and help spread the word by downloading and sharing the flyer.

Save the Date: May Day Rally

Every year, workers across the world rise up and rally to celebrate working people and the labor movement. This year, workers are rallying across New York to defend workers’ rights. Join the labor movement and allies across the state to march against attacks on workers. To save the date, click here, and share this flyer with your coworkers.

Spring 2026 Labor Education Trainings Open for Registration

NYSNA’s Labor Education Department trains members on how to become more engaged in the union’s work.

On Thursday, Apr. 16, join members from across the union via Zoom for the workshop “Win an Issue on Your Unit through a Campaign of Escalating Actions.” The workshop will cover how we can use some of the same organizing strategies we use in our biggest fights to make tangible, positive changes in day-to-day working conditions on our units. Check out additional workshops in April and May that include learning about NYSNA and the labor movement, how to increase turnout at union meetings and events, how to take control of meetings with management and more. Here is Labor Education’s updated full spring schedule here.

Registration is also open for our four-part Leadership Training taking place on four consecutive Thursdays: April 30, May 7, May 14 and May 21.

Please share the flyer of upcoming workshops with your coworkers and email [email protected] directly if you have questions or to schedule a workshop in your facility.

President Nancy Hagans Pens Opinion Editorial

Check out the recent op-ed that President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, wrote that is in City & State. In it, Hagans talked about why nurses walked out in our historic private sector strike and why it matters. She wrote about how the strike unfolded amid looming cuts to federal healthcare funding and yet rewrote the terms of care in the city, securing safety for nurses and patients when hospitals complained it wasn’t possible. She put the strike in context and explained how nurses’ victories have set templates for future contract fights and inspired workers to achieve more. “New Yorkers rely on hospitals to be anchors in good times and bad. If we are to meet that responsibility, we must invest in the people who do the work, regulate the technologies that enter the bedside and stabilize the public funding needed for quality care. That is what our nurses fought for this winter. That is what we won. And that is what patients across this city and across this country deserve.” To read more, click here.

Take Action to Fix Tier 6!

All workers deserve to retire with dignity and respect. That’s why New York state needs to take action now to Fix Tier 6! Tier 6 is the retirement plan for New York state’s public employees who joined the program after April 2012. This plan makes enrollees pay into the program for their entire careers at higher rates than previous plans and prevents enrollees from retiring before age 63 without facing heavy penalties. Tier 6 leads to significantly reduced pensions, which disincentivize New Yorkers — including nurses — from working in the public sector. In light of federal attacks on healthcare funding, our state legislators must do everything possible to help public sector hospitals recruit and retain enough nurses to safely care for the New Yorkers who need it most! To take action to fix Tier 6, use this form to email your legislators today!

Tell Albany: Don’t Leave Patients Home All Alone!

There is a proposal in the state budget to leave patients Home All Alone instead of in hospitals with 24/7 quality care. Under Hospital at Home programs, healthcare professionals monitor patients virtually in their homes instead of receiving around-the-clock expert care. Help us sound the alarm about this proposal that puts patient safety at risk. Learn more and sign the petition today!

Join Our Union Coalition Call: Protecting Patients and Workers

Healthcare workers in New York City and around the country have seen an increasing presence of ICE in our hospitals. It’s important that we know how we can prepare, advocate, and inform ourselves and our communities. Join your fellow union members from NYSNA, 1199 SEIU, Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU, Doctors Council/SEIU, and Communications Workers of America on Zoom on Monday, Apr. 20, at 7 p.m. to learn more about worker and patient rights and the policies that can keep us safe. A registration link will be shared next week.

Take Action: Do You Live in a 32BJ SEIU Building?

34,000 porters, doorpersons, superintendents, handypersons and resident managers who maintain 3,500 buildings across the city – from historic luxury co-ops on Park Avenue, to new developments, to condos in the Upper West Side and apartments – are fighting for a strong union contract. Do you live in a building maintained and operated by members of 32BJ SEIU? Our union siblings need your support in their campaign for a fair contract so they can keep up with the cost of living! It’s time to show your support for the essential workers who maintain and operate the building you call home!

What you can do:

• Show your love on social media: tag @32BJSEIU

  • Shoot a short video highlighting your support for 32BJ members in your building!

• Contact your building: tell them you support your building staff’s demands for fair wage increases to keep up with the cost of living, an improved pension and protection of critical healthcare benefits.

• Sign the petition: Tell the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (RAB): Strong Contract Now for the Workers Who Make NYC Home!”

• Learn more here!

Take Action to Pass the New York for All Act!

All New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, should be able to lead open lives in our state, participate in their communities, provide for their families and access healthcare without intimidation. The New York for All Act will allow immigrant New Yorkers to lead more open lives and take care of family; preserve state and local resources for our communities; and ensure that our administration cannot divert New York dollars to carry out a cruel, politicized immigration agenda. Passing this legislation would prohibit New York’s state and local government agencies, including police and sheriffs, from colluding with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), disclosing sensitive information, and diverting personnel or other resources to further federal immigration enforcement. Learn more and sign the petition to urge Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature to pass the New York for All Act!

Your Rights to Advocate for Patients When Encountering ICE

Nurses’ first duty is to care for and advocate for our patients. NYSNA nurses care for all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, income or insurance status, race, religion, ability or disability, sexuality, or gender identity or expression — simply regardless. Read our statement regarding the federal policy change on immigration enforcement in “sensitive locations,” including hospitals and schools.

Our allies at the New York Immigration Coalition developed this toolkit to provide a comprehensive list of resources for community members, partners and allies who work with immigrants. The toolkit covers health, community safety, family resources, financial empowerment and more.

Learn your rights and get answers to frequently asked questions here to know what to do if you encounter ICE officers in your facility.

NYSNA has also prepared this list of legal resources related to immigration. Please review and share widely.

Join Long Island Federation of Labor and NYCOSH for a Forum

On Wednesday, April 22, at 6 p.m., join the Long Island Federation of Labor and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYOSH) for a Zoom forum, “Health and Safety for Healthcare Workers.” Healthcare workers face unique hazards and require specific workplace protections. In this forum, presenters from NYSNA — including Lisa Baum and David Pratt — and NYCOSH will speak about these hazards, collective bargaining wins for nurses, documenting unsafe conditions and protests of assignment for workers. Register today.

Sign Up for New NNU Courses Free for NYSNA Members

National Nurses United (NNU) is offering FREE virtual courses for NYSNA members. New Spring 2026 courses have been added. View the full calendar and register here, or click on the links below to learn more and register for the courses you’re interested in. When registering for NNU courses, be sure to check the first box, “Yes, I am a CNA/NNOC/NNU member.”

Spring offerings:

• “Our Patients Are Safe When We Are Safe: Workplace Violence and Back Injury Prevention in Health Care Facilities”

• “Our Patients are Safe When We Are Safe and Environments of Harm”

• “Nursing Practice in Our Current Moment & Some Cuts Don’t Heal”

• “Immigrant Justice, Global Migration, and Public Health & Increasing Danger of Workplace Violence in Health Care”

• “Hospital Staffing and Bearing Witness, Building Power”

• “Housing and Health-and-Health Care and Big Tech”

Applications for 2026 Secor Scholarships Now Open

The Secor Scholarship Fund, established in 2007, was made possible by a generous bequest by long-time NYSNA member Jane Secor, PhD, RN. Dr. Secor stipulated that the endowment be used for furthering nursing education. Two Secor Scholarships are awarded annually, and applications are now open. One $5,000 scholarship is given to a NYSNA member pursuing a baccalaureate (or higher) degree in nursing. Another $5,000 is awarded to a family member seeking a first degree in nursing. The degree can be at any level, but it must be the first degree in nursing sought by the applicant. Click on this flyer for more information, and visit our website to apply.

Reporting Child Abuse Course Addendum Is Live on E-LeaRN

NYSNA’s Nursing Education and Practice (NEP) is happy to announce that NYSNA’S NYS Child Abuse: Identification and Reporting, 8th Edition — Addendum online course is now live on our E-LeaRN platform.

Anyone who completed the NYSNA course, NYS Child Abuse: Identification and Reporting, 8th Edition, through the NYSNA E-LeaRN platform between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2025, is eligible to complete the addendum course with us. The addendum course is free for NYSNA members. If you are eligible, you may access the addendum course by logging onto E-LeaRN by clicking “Browse Catalog” and searching for “addendum.”

Every person who is required to take the mandated training related to child abuse must take either the full three-hour course or the one-hour addendum portion of the training by Nov. 17, 2026.

Check out the NYSNA website for the latest updates to this requirement. If you have any questions about your E-LeaRN account, please contact NEP at [email protected].

Call for Submissions! The Journal of the New York State Nurses Association

The Journal of the New York Nurses Association is calling for submissions. Authors are invited to submit scholarly papers, research studies, brief reports on clinical or educational innovations, and articles of opinion on subjects important to registered nurses. Of particular interest are papers addressing direct care issues. New authors and student authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts for publication. Read the latest flyer outlining submission categories here. Read the guidelines for submission here.

The latest volume of The Journal of the New York State Nurses Association is out now! You can read it here.

Med-Ed Continuing Education Discount

NYSNA has partnered with Med-Ed Continuing Nursing Education to provide NYSNA members with full access to the complete Med-Ed catalogue at a 50% reduced rate. These are all self-study programs that members can access and complete at their leisure. You can access these course offerings by going to NYSNA’s members-only website here, then clicking on the Med-Ed website link, and entering the Promo Code NYSNAMEMBER at checkout, where the discount will apply.

Please do not share this information with any nonmembers.

2026 Nurse Education and Practice Workshops

Sign up for Nurse Education and Practice Workshops in 2026! NYSNA members can take advantage of FREE E-LeaRN courses, including state-mandated offerings, standard of practice and certification review courses, as well as nursing practice workshops. Take a look at the 2026 complete course offering, and register for the courses directly here. You must create an account and be signed in to search the full catalog of classes and register for them at no cost!

Calling All Nurse Practitioners

The NYSNA Nursing Education and Practice Department has added required and important educational offerings specifically for nurse practitioners (NPs). The courses include new, updated and mandated courses. Learn more and register for these classes for NYSNA NPs.

Nurses’ Rights to Be Whistleblowers and Protest Your Assignments

NYSNA members should be empowered with the knowledge of laws that have been passed with NYSNA’s input to protect them and empower them to speak up when patient safety is compromised, either due to unsafe staffing or other factors, such as a lack of personal protective equipment, as was the case throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Take a moment to learn about your rights in this flyer.

NYSNA Life Insurance — It’s Time to Designate Your Beneficiary!

NYSNA already provides members with a great benefit at no cost: Basic MetLife Life Insurance! This coverage provides $20,000 of Basic Life Insurance and $20,000 of Basic Personal Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance. All active members in good standing represented for collective bargaining through the union will automatically be enrolled in the plan. This union benefit is in addition to any other insurance provided by your benefits fund, your contract or through your employer.

But for your loved ones to receive this benefit, you must designate them as a beneficiary! To enroll and receive instructions on designating a beneficiary for your new Basic Personal AD&D Insurance, go to nysnawinstonbenefits.com or call 1-866-483-1124.

Sign up with your NYSNA Member ID to set up and access your account and benefits. If you need your Member ID, please contact the NYSNA Membership department at [email protected]. Download the flyer for additional details.

NYSNA Will-Writing Benefits From MetLife

The NYSNA Benefits Fund gives NYSNA members who are covered by the NYSNA Benefits Fund access to personal will preparation services that MetLife Legal Plans offer — at no additional cost.

Having a will prevents unnecessary stress and ensures final wishes are clear. The Benefits Fund offers valuable legal resources through MetLife Legal Plans to assist with creating or updating a will with a member’s Basic Life coverage. As part of this benefit, members get legal guidance and unlimited consultations with network attorneys. Learn more here.

NYSNA Members Are Eligible for AFL-CIO’s Union Plus Benefits!

The benefits of being a NYSNA member extend beyond your NYSNA benefits. As an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, NYSNA members are also eligible for Union Plus benefits to help current and retired labor union members and their families save money and support them through major milestones, celebrations and hardships. These benefits include discounts on wireless plans, credit card deals, mortgage deals, insurance plans and more! Find out more on the AFL-CIO Union Plus website.

The Talkspace Go App Is Mental Health on the Go!

The Talkspace Go app is a great resource that provides daily mental health support on the go! Talkspace Go is a clinician-created, self-guided app so you can address mental health challenges and build mental fitness on your own schedule. It empowers couples, individuals and parents to take progress into their own hands in as little as five minutes a day. Access 400-plus self-guided classes and live weekly therapist-led, anonymous classes. Enjoy assessments, meditation exercises, journaling, reminders and more.

Talkspace Go app is available at no cost to members and their eligible household members! Click here for the instructions and passcode to access the app.

Free Benefits for NYSNA Members: Union Assistance Program and SPAN

The Union Assistance Program (UAP) is a confidential self-help program, independent from NYSNA, that is available to NYSNA members and their families as a membership benefit. When an employee or family member (18 or older) faces a significant personal problem, they can call UAP’s experienced counselors at 800-252-4555 for assistance at any time. Read more information on phone counseling services here.

Statewide Peer Assistance for Nurses (SPAN) is a confidential education, support and advocacy program for all nurses licensed in New York state who are dealing with substance use issues. Visit the SPAN website for more information or to sign up for one of its upcoming classes. Check out SPAN’s Compassion Project.

In solidarity,
Pat Kane, RN
Executive Director, NYSNA