GETTING TOGETHER — PEF President Roger Benson and PEF Region 1 Coordinator Joyce Degenhardt talk with Kathleen Von Vrenkin, one of 150 PEF nurses attending the March meeting Buffalo. — Photo by Caroline Esposito Nurses’ struggle is our struggle By ROGER E. BENSON May 6 through 12 is “National Nurses Week,” a time set aside to pay tribute to one of the most important and demanding jobs anyone can perform. But as we take this time to show our appreciation for nurses, we also must acknowledge the tremendous pressures nurses often face on the job every day. While we represent workers in many titles who are struggling with short staffing, noncompetitive salaries and excessive overtime, our members in nursing titles suffer the most at the hands of the state’s bargain-basement budget policies. 'Our members in nursing titles suffer the most at the hands of the state’s bargain-basement budget policies.’ The state has taken a Band-Aid approach to these serious problems. Rather than resolving the issues, the state exploits the dedication, professionalism and ethics of our nurses, knowing they will place their patients’ care ahead of their personal needs. PEF has achieved limited success in negotiating pay differentials for some nurses — a tacit admission by the state that nurses’ salaries are not competitive — but this is just the beginning of our battle. We will continue fighting to address the issue of fair pay by seeking to reallocate nursing titles, and we are pressing our demands to end mandatory overtime and chronic understaffing. We have raised this issue in the Legislature and are working for passage of bills that limit mandatory overtime and guarantee safe staffing ratios. We are also pressing forward with our campaign for whistleblower protection, and disclosure of patient-to-nurse ratios at hospitals. And we’re fighting threats to erode the professionalism of nursing duties. I applaud the quality services PEF nurses deliver, and commend nurses for their strong commitment to their patients and the public. PEF is equally committed to winning our battles against short staffing, mandatory overtime and unfair pay — for nurses and all our members. The Communicator Home Page