The Handbook
Know Your Rights.
Three things every union nurse needs in their pocket: your Weingarten rights, the Protest of Assignment, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement — read together, one section at a time.
Protest of Assignment
The POA: your unsafe-assignment receipt.
A Protest of Assignment is a formal, written record that you accepted an assignment under protest because conditions — staffing, acuity, skill mix, equipment, breaks — put your patients or your license at risk. It does not refuse the assignment. It documents it.
Why we file
- ★Protects your license. On paper, before the shift goes sideways.
- ★Builds the record. Every filing feeds the monthly Staffing Snapshot — the receipts we bring to management, Albany, and the bargaining table.
- ★No retaliation. Filing a POA is protected concerted activity. Names and identifying details are stripped before anything is published.
When to ask for a POA
Ratios out of contract
Patient loads exceed contractual ratios, or you're floated into a unit without orientation.
Skill mix or acuity unsafe
Acuity is too high for the staffing on the floor, or skill mix doesn't match patient needs.
Mandatory OT / missed breaks
You're held over against your will, or breaks are denied with no relief assigned.
Equipment or environment
Equipment failures, broken call-bells, or environmental hazards that put patients at risk.