April 11, 2024 — Since learning earlier this year about a plan to close SUNY Downstate, PEF and UUP have orchestrated a fightback campaign to make sure it does not happen. The two unions, along with concerned clergy in New York City, legislators in Albany, and Brooklyn community leaders have held rallies, meetings and marches to pressure the governor and lawmakers to reject the plan.
During a first-of-its-kind joint telephone town hall on April 10, PEF President Wayne Spence and UUP President Fred Kowal detailed the efforts so far.
“It has been a remarkable show of union strength from both our unions,” Kowal said.
Kowal said that the campaign is hearing rumors that there will be no closure of Downstate.
“We are going to do what we need to keep this place of excellence open,” President Spence added. “I’m going to speak this into existence: We will be celebrating real soon.”
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PEF, UUP and AFT hold bi-weekly strategy meetings to identify next steps and continue to put pressure on the governor and the legislature. As State leaders continue to negotiate a budget deal, the SUNY Downstate coalition is making sure they don’t forget about the hospital.
Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, UUP’s chapter president at SUNY Downstate, praised the grassroots effort.
“A lot of community organizations have come out to help us,” Abrahams-Nichols said. “One of the organizations that has been helping us are a lot of the people that were affected by the closure at Kingsbrook Jewish.”
PEF Executive Board member and SUNY Downstate nurse Joan Rosegreen has been working with Abrahams-Nichols.
“What I have been doing, with boots on the ground, I have been going to the unit and informing our members that we are going to stay open,” said Rosegreen.
She said she shares that message with patients, letting them know Downstate is “open for business” and asks patients to tell their family and friends that Brooklyn’s community hospital isn’t going anywhere.
Next up for the coalition is a Prayer Rally and March on April 18 from Lenox Road Baptist Church in Brooklyn to the main entrance of SUNY Downstate. Anyone who wants to take part should gather outside the church on the corner of Lenox and Nostrand Avenue at 4:45 p.m. on April 18.