Three-year contracts were finalized for some 10,500 members of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), and agreements were signed with Mount Sinai and Montefiore on February 11.
NYSNA reports that nurses gave strong approval to the agreements: at Mount Sinai, 87% ratified their new contract; at Mount Sinai Morningside and West, 96% ratified; and at Montefiore, 86% did the same.
But more than 4,200 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian voted to reject the tentative agreement NYSNA leadership brought to members last week.
NYSNA nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian voted 80% to reject their tentative agreement, saying the deal they were offered did not sufficiently address staffing concerns. Even the decision to move forward with a vote on the proposed contract angered many rank-and-file NYSNA members at the hospital, who later complained that NYSNA leaders had not listened to their demands for more concessions.
Some union members now appear to have formed the New York Healthcare Workers Rank‑and‑File Committee. The group organized a march on the NYSNA headquarters and delivered a petition signed by 1,500 coworkers demanding an investigation of top union officials, including President Nancy Hagans and Executive Director Pat Kane, for accepting the proposed NewYork-Presbyterian contract.
“NewYork-Presbyterian nurses felt that the agreement needed stronger protections against layoffs and guarantees from management on staffing,” the civil service newspaper, The Chief, reported. “Last year, NewYork-Presbyterian cut its entire workforce by 2 percent, which included about 40 union members, according to NYSNA.
“The memory of those layoffs lives fresh in the minds of the striking nurses who have walked picket lines in bitter cold for the last month and elected to continue doing so.”