The Greene County Public Health and Correction Nurses overwhelmingly selected UPSEU to replace their current representative. "We were contacted by several Greene County nurses in the fall of last year," said UPSEU Regional Coordinator Kathy A. Wright-Muzio. She went on to explain, "Our Columbia County nurses had recommended they give us a call when they reached a fourth year of not having a contract." It also just so happened that two of the nurses had also worked previously in UPSEU represented units, knew Wright-Muzio personally and were familiar with UPSEU's commitment to personalized professional representation.
In speaking with the nurses, not only were they frustrated over the lack of an agreement but, they were paying extremely high union dues and receiving very little in return. A petition to decertify their representative, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) , was filed and on the date the ballots were mailed, NYSNA notified UPSEU and the County they were disclaiming interest in representing the nurses and would not be participating in the election. PERB then cancelled the election immediately and certified UPSEU as their representative on June 5, 2015.
"There is a lot of ground to cover in the coming months and we are anxious get to moving towards a new contract that our new members will be pleased with," stated Wright-Muzio.
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