UPDATE: Two New York City hospitals have reached a tentative contract agreement with thousands of striking nurses, ending a walkout that disrupted patient care. The deal will see nurses return to work Thursday. The nurses walked out early Monday after negotiations with management ran aground at Mount Sinai Hospital, in Manhattan, and Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx. The New York State Nurses Association has stressed staffing levels as a key concern, saying that nurses who labored through the grueling peak of the coronavirus pandemic are stretched far too thin because too many jobs are open. The privately owned, nonprofit hospitals say they have been grappling with a widespread nursing shortage that was exacerbated by the pandemic. – Associated Press
Talks fell apart late Sunday night, Jan. 8, just as the deadline hit for when the NY State Nurses Association (NYSNA) said its union members wanted a newly negotiated contract or that nurses would go on strike.
Mount Sinai Hospital saw nurses leave their night shifts at 6 a.m. on Jan. 9 and head out to the sidewalk with picket signs—some 3,625 Mount Sinai nurses are part of the strike. At Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, 3,500 nurses are part of the walkout.
Mount Sinai and Montefiore were the last remaining medical centers NYSNA was in contract talks with. After bargaining late into the night, no tentative agreements were reached with either location. As the strike deadline loomed on Sunday, Gov. Hochul put out a call for binding arbitration. Hochul also called on the Department of Health to enforce nurse staffing requirements which, according to the “Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act” passed in 2021,
mandate that medical facilities set appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios for the best patient care.
“Despite Montefiore’s offer of a 19.1% compounded wage increase––the same offer agreed to at the wealthiest of our peer institutions––and a commitment to create over 170 new nursing positions, and despite a call from Gov. Hochul for arbitration, NYSNA’s leadership has decided to walk away from the bedsides of their patients,” the Montefiore Medical Center said in a statement sent at 3:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 9. “Therefore, at 6 a.m., NYSNA nurses will be on strike and off the job. We remain committed to seamless and compassionate care, recognizing that the union leadership’s decision will spark fear and uncertainty across our community. This is a sad day for New York City.”
NYSNA leaders assured that anyone using hospital services while nurses are on strike would not be viewed as a strikebreaker: “We appreciate solidarity from our patients—but going into the hospital to get the care you need is NOT crossing our strike line,” the organization wrote. “In fact, we invite you to come join us on the strike line after you’ve gotten the care you need. We are out here so we can provide better patient care to you!”
The union had initially been in contract talks with New York-Presbyterian, Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center, and Flushing Hospital Medical Center. NYSNA reached a tentative agreement with Mount Sinai Morningside and West on the afternoon of Jan. 8. New contracts were ratified by nurses at the Brooklyn Hospital Center-Maimonides and NewYork-Presbyterian on Jan. 7 and by nurses at Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center and BronxCare on Jan. 9.
During a press conference outside of Mount Sinai Hospital on Jan. 9, one nurse said she wanted everyone to know that the strike was not solely a push for wage increases; it was also to promote safer nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. The nurse said that the hospital currently has 550 vacancies and complained that for the past five years, while working in Mount Sinai’s intensive care unit, she has routinely been assigned to care for three to four patients at a time when she should be working directly with, at most, two patients. Because Mount Sinai does not employ enough nurses, she said two to three nurses routinely work 24-hour shifts at a time.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. attended the press conference and rallied strikers with chants that promoted support for NYSNA’s efforts. “Shame on you, Mount Sinai! Shame, shame, shame on you!” he said to the crowd. “To have these nurses out here, who shed blood and tears to get us through this pandemic. To have these nurses out here––shame on you! “There’s been a lot of conversations about going back to normal in our city,” he added. “Well, normal never worked in this city. It’s why this pandemic was exacerbated in communities––especially of color––across this city. We are not looking to go back to normal. We are looking for a new normal in this city, and that new normal means fair wages, that new normal means better staffing. We don’t need a hand clap; we need more staff so that these nurses can operate and work in dignity.”
By the second day of the strike, NYSNA President Nancy Hagans appeared at a press conference outside of Montefiore to confront claims that nurses are mostly clamoring for higher salaries. Hagans called those claims “disgusting.” “I want you to know that they are here for the money, not us.” she told the crowd. “We are here because we are representing our community, we are representing our patients. When you go into that Monte ER and one nurse has 20 patients and the patients are on the bed[s] waiting to go to a room––that’s what we’re here for.”
Vanessa Weldon, a registered nurse and executive chair of Montefiore Home Health, came forward to claim that Montefiore’s Nurse-Family Partnership program, which pairs first-time moms with home visits from nurses, is one thing striking nurses are working with the community to maintain. The program has lost its funding, jeopardizing area residents.
“Montefiore could save this program by providing the $800,000 difference,” Weldon said. Tamara Garel, a nurse who works in that program, talked about why area residents feel home-visiting services are needed in the Bronx: “We all know that the maternal mortality rate amongst women of color has been very high. Women of color are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth-related complications and it is very, very important for Montefiore to save this program. During the pandemic, we caught so many things like preeclampsia, like babies that needed to have surgery––there are so many things that we capture in the home that’s not captured in a 15-minute doctor’s appointment. We’re just calling on the community to save this program.”As the AmNews went to press, NYSNA said it remains at the bargaining table with Montefiore and talks have resumed with Mount Sinai Hospital, but no deal had been reached.
Not good health service is an injustice to the people.Not good benefits and conditions is an injustice against health workers.