{"id":8831,"date":"2026-05-04T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=8831"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:33:12","slug":"suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-4\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"SUNY Downstate fight the subject of AFT Health Care Q&A with union leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SUNYMay 7, 2026 —<\/em> PEF President Wayne Spence and interim Downstate Regional Field Services Director Deb Egel participated in a question-and-answer feature in the AFT Health Care<\/em> publication\u2019s Spring 2026 issue on the history of the fight to save SUNY Downstate.<\/p>\n

Members can read the full article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to PEF\u2019s leaders, AFT spoke with Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, a nurse at SUNY Downstate for 25 years, and president of United University Professions (UUP) Downstate chapter, and a member of the UUP Executive Board and the AFT Nurses and Health Professionals Program and Policy Council; and Fred Kowal, president of UUP, an AFT vice president, and a member of the New York State United Teachers Board of Directors and Executive Committee and the New York State AFL-CIO Executive Council.<\/p>\n

SUNY Downstate was at the center of a yearslong battle to protect access to healthcare in central Brooklyn and is a crucial academic medical center and safety-net hospital that delivers quality care to a primarily Black and Latinx community with disproportionately high rates of chronic illness.<\/p>\n

When plans to shut down the hospital were announced in January 2024, unions, area clergy, and community organizations banded together into a powerful coalition and fought back. Victory came in June 2025<\/a>, when the coalition secured $1.1 billion to upgrade and expand SUNY Downstate\u2019s facilities and services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 7, 2026 — PEF President Wayne Spence and interim Downstate Regional Field Services Director Deb Egel participated in a question-and-answer feature in the AFT Health Care publication\u2019s Spring 2026…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-8831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-4"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSUNY Downstate fight the subject of AFT Health Care Q&A with union leaders - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-4\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SUNY Downstate fight the subject of AFT Health Care Q&A with union leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 7, 2026 — PEF President Wayne Spence and interim Downstate Regional Field Services Director Deb Egel participated in a question-and-answer feature in the AFT Health Care publication\u2019s Spring 2026...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-4\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-04T14:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T12:33:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/AFT-Feature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"435\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"SUNY Downstate fight the subject of AFT Health Care Q&A with union leaders\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-04T14:00:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T12:33:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/AFT-Feature.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-44-no-4\\\/suny-downstate-fight-the-subject-of-aft-health-care-qa-with-union-leaders\\\/\",\"name\":\"SUNY Downstate fight the subject of AFT Health Care Q&A with union leaders - 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