ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The results are in for the union that represents Rochester General Hospital nurses. 91% voted in favor to strike Wednesday.
This comes after unsuccessful negotiations in the past.
Wednesday’s vote authorizes a limited duration strike for five days.
“There’s never a time when a nurse in the ICU should have more than two patients, and a lot of the times, they should just be one to one,” said Phoebe Sheehan, a registered nurse at RGH. “A lot of the times we are seeing inappropriately paired patients with nurses or three patients to one nurse and it definitely becomes a situation that’s way too stressful and honestly dangerous.”
RGH has not yet issued a response to the vote, but did release a statement earlier Wednesday, saying, “We are disappointed the union is threatening another strike when we’re still actively negotiating and working hard to reach a deal.”
Sheehan says the union must give a 10-day notice from the authorization vote before they begin striking.
