BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Union members came together today outside of Buffalo General Hospital and Oishei Children's Hospital. Their goal was to make sure their voices were heard. Many say they took to the picket line to bring attention to what they are calling "less than desirable working conditions" and staffing shortages. Cheryl Voelker has been working as a nurse for 47 years but says so much has changed.
"When I was younger, the patients weren't as sick," said Cheryl Voelker. "The patients now that we care for were normally in the intensive care unit or unfortunately didn't make it. Now we are caring for patients on our regular floor without proper staff and they're a lot sicker and require a lot more care that we can't always give them."
It's the understaffed and unacceptable working conditions that several union workers say are behind their decision to picket.
"We came out to the picket to basically show Kaleida that we will not settle for a poor contract," said Voelker. "We want a good contract with good patient care. Be able to give the patients the care they deserve."
The CWA and 1199SEIU are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement and demanding the state invest in Kaleida's workforce. Debbie Hayes, Upstate New York Area Director, said the insudtry is facing a time of crisis.
"We need 436 new positions in order to provide safe patient care yet there's no revenue in the budget to support those positions," said Debbie Hayes.
"It makes us feel sad because we know we could have done more for patients if we had more staff and if we had more care," said Voelker.
James Voelker is Cheryl Voelker's son and he told 7 News he's seen how much the under staffing has taken a toll on his mother.
"It's just that I get to see her coming back more and more stressed and tried," said James Voelker. "She doesn't complain much but at the same time you know she's having a greater work load day after day without pay going up."
Picket organizers said out of 7,500 members in the Kaleida Health system, 2,000 of them have either quit or retired in the last two years.
"Well unfortunately they're not going to likely see the same thing," said Voelker. "The level of love and compassion that was there when people like my mom would start. They really had a heart and they saw that heart being compensated for. You could say well paid and well treated and that's just not happening right now."
Voelker said his mother is planning to retire soon but hopes the system improves for future health care workers.
"For nurses coming up and graduating and coming into a hospital, out hope is that they have the right number of staff to care for their patients," said Voelker.
