Registered nurses at Schenectady, N.Y.-based Ellis Hospital issued a strike notice Aug. 20 to the hospital, announcing plans to strike on Sept. 3, according to a Times Union report.
The nurses are represented by the New York State Nurses Association.
If a strike takes place, Ellis Medicine, the hospital's parent, has threatened to lock out nurses for five days afterward, so agency nurses can provide continuous care, according to the report. The union, in response, has threatened to file an unfair labor practices charge against the hospital.
The hospital and nurses are in the middle of a contract impasse that centers on staffing levels and the nurse-to-patient ratios at the facility. According to the report, both parties agree that the current system of allocating staff to patients could be improved, but they differ in their ideas of what is wrong with the system and what needs to be done.
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