News 12 at 6 o'clock, Wednesday September 1, 2010

AUGUSTA, Ga.---New problems for a local VA hospital. Now a group of nurses is planning an informational picket, asking for increased staffing.

Administrators say they've been working with the nurses and this picket caught them off guard but the local nurses union says their voices weren't being heard... and it was time to take the next step.

Linda Carter is an Army veteran and a nurse at the Charlie Norwood VA.

"The morale is low, the morale is fearful," says Linda.

Linda says she and some of her more than 400 co-workers are looking for change.

Staffing concerns, specifically what some nurses call 'unfilled vacancies, mandatory overtime, and inappropriate nursing assignments.'

They say it's hurting patient care. "We don't have the time to just tell them... It's going to be okay," says Linda.

"We have been having problems recruiting and retaining nurses for a long time," says Irma Westmoreland, the President of the National Nurses United.

And so the National Nurses Union is taking action, with an information picket. "Our voices have been ignored for far too long," says Linda.

"It's not like we come to work saying, lets see if I can not meet this patient's need today. I have nurses calling me who are going home crying because they could not meet the needs of their patient today and that's wrong," adds Westmoreland.

Rebecca Wiley, the Director of the Medical Center, says they have been hiring. I was surprised that they determined that they wanted to do a picket," says Wiley.

The union nurses say they're regularly made to work extra shifts, topping out at 16 hours a day. "Too overworked. We have so much to do, so little time," says Linda.

"Do you feel like the nurses are overworked?" Asks reporter Katie Beasley "I can't substantiate that we have nurses that are involuntarily working 16 hours," answers Wiley.

"Without nurses, you don't have a hospital," says Linda.

Rebecca believes a compromise is in the future. "Our mission is to take care of our veterans and I'm confident that working with our unions, which we have been and will continue to do so, we will be able to resolve the concerns they have raised," says Wiley.

The informational picket is scheduled for Wednesday, September 8 from 10:30 to 2:30 outside the downtown v-a.

Wiley says despite the union's claims, the VA is not working under a deficit. News 12 did ask the nurses if they were so unhappy, why not just leave, they all told me the benefits, pay and mission are all great. It's just the morale, long hours, and staffing concerns that they would like to see changed.