New York State Nurses Association Labor Bargaining Unit President, Mount Sinai, Robin Krinsky, speaks during a rally by NYSNA nurses from NY Presbyterian and Mount Sinai. Nurses were demanding that Albany lawmakers pass Safe Staffing on what is the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown in NYC.
For years, nurses in New Jersey have raised concerns about workforce shortages and staffing levels they believe put patients and employees in danger. The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated this situation and, according to New Jersey nurses unions, the state’s continued suspension of staffing regulations is further adding to the strain.
While COVID-19-related hospitalizations continue in New Jersey at a steady rate, the numbers are just a fraction of what health care providers battled during peak points in the pandemic. But nurses’ unions said their members are still enduring stressful conditions, traumatized by what they have experienced, exhausted by working long hours caring for multiple patients. They are skipping breaks, working weekends and, in some cases, missing out on the time off they enjoyed in past summers, nurses said. Labor leaders point to workforce shortages and a lack of government control as problems.