Some 200 nurses and their families filled Shanker Hall for the Federation of Nurses/UFT’s annual Nurse Recognition Day dinner on May 8 to honor members for their union activism and patient advocacy. Nineteen hospital and homecare nurses were recognized for standing strong in contract negotiations and continuously advocating for better training and support for nurses and patient care in workplaces where employers prioritize profit.

“It takes a lot to counter a bureaucracy that has little to do with health care and everything to do with money,” said UFT Vice President Anne Goldman, the head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT. “Nurse Recognition Day is about honoring the tireless efforts and the incredible work everyone here does.”

Kaiser Mojica, a union delegate and vice chapter chair of the VNS Health Chapter, won the Homecare Nurse of the Year Award for ensuring that VNS nurses are paid properly. 

In accepting his award, Mojica took the opportunity to celebrate his colleagues. “You embody empathy, integrity and agility,” he said, referencing the VNS Health motto. He acknowledged that the demands of the profession and the constant fight for patient safety and fair pay are exhausting, but he urged his colleagues to stay the course. “Do not weary of well-doing,” he said, quoting the Bible. 

The Federation of Nurses/UFT is fresh off three recent victories. In January, nine nurses who were unfairly fired by NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn were reinstated with full back pay in one of the biggest arbitration victories the UFT has ever achieved for unlawful terminations. That same month, licensed practical nurses at VNS Health signed a contract that provided a solid pay increase and addressed long-standing scheduling issues that compromised patient care. 

Then on Feb. 26, members at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn overwhelmingly ratified an 11th-hour contract that included a pay increase that provided wage parity with nurses at surrounding hospitals and new commitments from the hospital to address chronic short-staffing of nurses. 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew lauded the fortitude of Federation of Nurses/UFT members in fighting for their patients and for fair contracts. “When we stick together, we get it done,” he said. 
Sandra Nin, a nurse educator at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn who won the RN Advocate Award, explained why her work as a bargaining committee member at the negotiating table mattered. 

“I will never give up for the nurses,” she said, “because if you give up on the nurses, you’re giving up on the patients.”