Sharpton joined hundreds of caregivers along the picket line outside of Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital on the afternoon of Jan. 19 as the strike reached its eighth day. Despite the frigid cold, the nurses stood steadfast and even danced as they remained unwavering in their demands for better pay and patient care.
Joining the rowdy crowd, Sharpton invoked the name of Dr. Martin Luther King as he offered his support to the healthcare providers in what has become the largest nurses’ strike in New York history.
“Martin Luther King Day died in Memphis fighting for wages for garbage workers, and I believe he would want those of us that come in his tradition to be standing with nurses and standing with those that should be getting wages for saving the lives and caring for people that the private hospitals and other hospitals seem not to care about,” Sharpton railed.
Sharpton added that their defense of patients is more than just a labor issue.
“This is not only a labor issue, this is a civil rights issue. This is a human rights issue,” Sharpton said. “It’s an issue that Black and white, Latino, Asian, all stand together because those that want to make profits out of people’s illness, rather than pay for those that care for them, that stand for them, that are there when their families are not there in some cases. So, we had to come on King’s Day.”
Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton spent MLK Day Monday standing with the striking nurses in Upper Manhattan.Photo by Dean MosesDespite the cold, the nurses remained steadfast.Photo by Dean Moses
Following Sharpton’s speech, Nancy Hagans, the President of the New York Nurses Association, reaffirmed the commitment of some 15,000 nurses to their demands, including high wages and safety staffing practices for patients. Hagans also called out several hospitals for the failed negotiations.
“I am asking the three richest hospitals in New York City, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, NewYork Presbyterian, what the hell is wrong with you?” Hagans roared.
“I am asking the three richest hospitals in New York City, Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian, what the hell is wrong with you?” Hagans roared. Photo by Dean Moses
The potential for a major nurses strike in New York City is growing by the minute, after major hospitals and the New York State Nurses Association failed to negotiate a deal before Sunday’s midnight deadline.
As a result, nearly 15,000 nurses could walk off the job Monday at Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, unless something happens during the overnight hours and an agreement is reached.
The union said Sunday at a news conference that a strike would begin Monday at 6 a.m. at Mount Sinai and 7 a.m. at other facilities without a new contract.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged the potential strike Sunday evening, posting a message on social media that reads, in part, “We are prepared for any and all scenarios, including a strike … No New Yorker should have to fear losing access to health care — and no nurse should be asked to accept less pay, fewer benefits or less dignity for doing lifesaving work.”
Key issues for the union
Leaders for NYSNA have said key sticking points in contract negotiations with Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian involve wage increases, health benefits, protection from workplace violence, and safe staffing and patient safety.
“Instead of guaranteeing health care for nurses, these wealthy hospitals are pushing to cut health benefits for nurses who put their own health on the line to care for New Yorkers,” Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, said on Saturday.
In a joint statement, the hospitals called the potential strike “reckless” and asked union leadership to reconsider.
“NYSNA leadership has chosen to abandon patients in their time of need, but Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian will not. Their decision to walk out on our patients can only be described as reckless,” the hospitals said.
A strike could last weeks, hospital says
Montefiore said it was preparing for what could be a multi-week strike, while Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian said they’re ready to safely care for patients if a strike occurs.
“Patients should not delay going to the hospital if they need care, while we are on strike,” Hagans said.
“NYSNA leadership’s reckless and irresponsible demands totaling $3.6 billion, including a nearly 40% wage increase, clearly put patients at risk; we are resolute in devoting whatever resources are necessary to safe and seamless care for our community,” Joe Solmonese, Montefiore’s senior VP of strategic communications, said in a statement last week.
Some hospitals in the area have already reached a deal with NYSNA, including all of Northwell Health facilities in Nassau County, while others pulled back their strike notices.
“Northwell Health is pleased to have reached tentative agreements with NYSNA … at Huntington, Plainview and Syosset hospitals. From the start of negotiations, our goal has been to reach a fair contract that supports our valued nurses and upholds the high standard of care our patients and community trust,” a statement from Northwell said.
Hochul signs executive order
In a video posted Friday on social media, Gov. Kathy Hochul encouraged both sides to remain at the bargaining table and strike a deal. The governor also signed an executive order for the Department of Health to ensure hospital contingency plans in the event of a strike. She later released the following statement:
“My team and I have been in regular communication with both NYSNA and hospital leadership for weeks, and that work has led to real progress. Eleven hospital systems have either reached agreements or agreed not to proceed with strikes at this time,” Hochul said.
“While negotiations will continue, we expect strikes to begin tomorrow at three hospital systems in Manhattan and the Bronx. If strikes move forward, the Department of Health will have staff on site at all affected hospitals beginning tomorrow morning and for the duration of the strike to ensure patient safety and continuity of care.
“My top priority is protecting patients and ensuring they can access the care they need. At the same time, we must reach an agreement that recognizes the essential work nurses do every day on the front lines of our healthcare system.
“This weekend, I signed a two-week Executive Order allowing hospital systems to access resources to maintain patient care. “I continue to urge both sides to remain at the table and reach an agreement as soon as possible.”
Public supportive of nurses’ demands — to a point
Some New Yorkers who spoke to CBS News New York said they are are supportive, but others worry about what a work stoppage would mean for patients.
“A strike is a last resort. So when it comes down to decisions to strike, that’s a big deal and the public should be paying attention to that and realizing that we depend on health care workers,” said Kaidee Akullo, who was visiting New York City from Philadelphia.
“I would say I support their decision to fight for what they deserve, but not at the cost of lives,” an Upper West Side resident said.
“I hope they settle the contract because they deserve it. They’re hard workers,” one person said.
“We shouldn’t have the strike. It’s in the interest of everyone,” Harminder Bhatia said.
“The nurses have every right to strike, and they should be striking because they’re overworked and underpaid,” a woman added.
NYSNA issued the notice on Friday, stating that the strike would represent the largest nursing strike in New York City history.
The 10-day warning comes two days after union contracts expired on Dec. 31, with NYSNA pointing to a number of “key sticking points” in negotiations. The union accused hospitals of failing to guarantee healthcare benefits for frontline workers in addition to allegedly attempting to “roll back” safe staffing standards that nurses won in a 2023 strike.
NYSNA further accused hospitals of refusing to agree to protections from workplace violence, referencing an incident at a Mount Sinai hospital in November when a man was fatally shot by cops after threatening to “shoot up” the hospital.
The union said the 10-day warning offers hospitals an opportunity to plan for patient care while nurses are striking
The Greater New York Hospital Association, however, which represents around 280 hospitals across the New York area, has described a potential strike as “irresponsible,” stating that impacted hospitals will spend millions of dollars hiring outside agency nurses even if the strike does not go ahead.
The association further stated that the strike threatens the financial stability of several hospitals facing federal funding cuts implemented through President Donald Trump’s budget.
Which hospitals could be impacted by nurses’ strike?
Members of the NYSNAPhoto by NYSNA
NYSNA said nurses at 12 private hospitals, including BronxCare Health System, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, the Brooklyn Hospital Center and Montefiore Medical Center have voted unanimously to strike on Jan. 12.
Nurses at Maimonides Medical Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn have also voted to strike. Several impacted hospitals are “safety net” hospitals that provide care to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagan accused management at the hospitals of “fighting against” frontline workers. She added that a strike is a “last resort” but said nurses will not stop until their demands have been met.
“Management is refusing to guarantee our healthcare benefits and trying to roll back the safe staffing standards we fought for and won,” Hagan said. “We have been bargaining for months, but hospitals have not done nearly enough to settle fair contracts that protect patient care.
“The future of care in this city is far too important to compromise on our values as nurses.”
The union accused hospital executives of not doing enough to settle contracts at a time when New York is experiencing the worst flu surge since 2017/18.
Michelle Jones, a Registered Nurse at Flushing Hospital, said union demands will help ensure that patients at safety net hospitals receive the same care as patients in “wealthy hospitals..”
“We care for a disproportionate number of uninsured and underinsured patients,” Jones said. “At a moment when healthcare is under attack, we need our safety net hospitals to protect care for those who need it most. Nurses also need to have quality healthcare as we take care of sick patients.”
A spokesperson for Mount Sinai, on the other hand, accused NYSNA of threatening to strike after just one day of negotiations with a third-party mediator. They also alleged that the union’s demand would amount to a $100,000 increase in average nurse pay and accused NYSNA of using patients as “bargaining chips” at a time when hospitals are facing significant federal funding cuts.
The Mount Sinai representative said the hospital group is prepared for a potential strike if an agreement cannot be reached by Jan. 12.
“We will continue to work in good faith to reach an agreement before the strike, however after months of preparation, our system is ready for every outcome so we can maintain high quality patient care and continue to serve our patients and communities across New York,” a Mount Sinai spokesperson said.
Flushing Hospital Medical Center has not yet returned a request for comment.
Hospital association leader says strike threat ‘irresponsible’
However, Greater New York Hospital Association President Kenneth E. Raske slammed NYSNA as “irresponsible” for threatening a strike, stating that hospitals will be forced to commit millions of dollars to hire agency nurses over the next 10 days. As a result, he said, hospitals would lose millions of dollars even if the strike does not go ahead.
He said some hospitals do not have the resources to hire agency nurses, which he said would limit their ability to function during the strike.
“Some hospitals will immediately spend tens of millions of dollars to bring in outside agency nurses. These funds cannot be recouped if there is no strike, but not doing so is a risk that can’t be taken,” Raske said.
“We have the greatest respect for our nurses, but this action by NYSNA leadership flies in the face of massive cuts in the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act that will slash $8 billion from New York hospitals and trigger a loss of an estimated 34,000 hospital jobs statewide.”
NYSNA also referenced impending federal funding cuts but said the union demands would help protect patient care from any funding cuts by ensuring that there is always enough nurses at bedsides to provide safe patient care.
“While nurses have fought for patients, hospital administrators have fought against nurses, responding with avoidance, delays, takebacks, and retaliation,” NYSNA said. “Management’s proposals would erode safe staffing and quality care in New York City.”
More than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers across California are hitting the picket line Tuesday, as a five-day strike begins.
Workers with the United Nurses Associations of California / Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) walked off the job beginning at 7 a.m. amid a dispute over staffing, pay and patient care. The union said the walkout is the largest strike in its history.
Along with nurses, the union represents pharmacists, nurse practitioners, midwifes, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians and other specialty healthcare workers.
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California told CBS News Bay Area that pharmacists in the region are not striking and pharmacies are running normally.
in the San Francisco Bay Area, picket lines were expected at the Oakland Medical Center and Santa Clara Medical Center. The walkout also affects one facility in the Sacramento region, the Roseville Medical Center.
Meanwhile in Southern California, picket lines were scheduled to take place at hospitals and medical offices in Bakersfield, Los Angeles County, Orange County, the Inland Empire and San Diego County. The strike also impacts three hospitals in Hawaii, two on the island of Oahu and one on the island of Maui.
“Our union made repeated attempts to reach a fair agreement. This dispute centers on staffing levels, respect for professional expertise, and patient safety — not just pay,” the union said in a statement Monday. “This strike is about protecting the future of patient care.”
The union is calling for a 25% wage increase over four years, arguing that wages have not kept up with inflation and that Kaiser gave other unions higher wage increases. Workers are also seeking changes to scheduling and staffing.
Kaiser Permanente said they are offering a 21.5% increase over four years, which the healthcare organization claimed was already above market wages.
“A strike is unnecessary when a generous offer is on the table. The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients — the very people we are all here to serve,” Kaiser said in a statement Monday.
The organization said it had prepared contingency plans in the event of a strike, saying hospitals and most medical offices will remain open. Up to 7,600 nurses, clinicians and other staff are being brought in to work at Kaiser facilities during the walkout.
During the strike, Kaiser said some appointments are being shifted to virtual visits, while other appointments, elective surgeries and procedures are being rescheduled.
For Sean Miller, a warehouse worker at a food distribution company, being called essential during the pandemic “was one of the most terrifying times of my life.”
“Everybody was scared, whether it was workers or employers,” recalled Miller, who works near Syracuse, New York, for Sysco — a major food distributor for restaurants, schools and nursing homes.
But two years later, when it came time to negotiate a new contract, Miller said the company had forgotten about its “essential” workforce and wasn’t willing to increase pay or curb what the workers called excessive overtime.
“You talk about being essential, a hero, and ‘you guys are the best,’ and when it comes time to shine — nothing,” he said.
So Miller and 230 of his coworkers, members of Teamsters Local 230, went on strike, declaring nearly three weeks later that the company had met their major demands.
Miller is one of thousands of workers who went on strike last year — many for the first time. Newly released figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that large work stoppages increased nearly 50% between 2021 and 2022, continuing a trend of renewed labor activism in the wake of the pandemic.
“It does take courage for any worker to go on strike, so the fact that we’re seeing an increase, compared to what we saw during the pandemic, is a win,” said Margaret Poydock, a policy analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“Throughout 2022, strikes provided workers critical leverage to bargain over fair pay, safe working conditions, and a fair share of the economy,” the EPI said in a blog post.
More than half of the strikes last year involved health care workers or educators. And while pay was a major reason for strikes, with last year seeing the hottest inflation in 40 years, it wasn’t the only one. Workers also struck for safer working conditions, lower patient-to-nurse ratios and smaller class sizes, Poydock noted.
The Labor Department’s report is far from a complete picture. The report only counts work actions involving over 1,000 people, leaving out most of last year’s strikes. A report released this week from the Cornell Institute of Labor Relations paints a fuller picture, showing nearly a quarter of a million workers went on strike last year, an increase from the year before.
Cornell counted 279 strikes last year, up 50% from the year before — a trend in line with the government’s findings. Nearly half of those were in small workplaces, with fewer than 50 employees. That includes more than 100 strikes and walkouts at Starbucks stores across the country.
The uptick in strikes wave coincides with a surge of public approval for labor unions, which are the most popular they’ve been since 1965, according to Gallup. Still, despite the increase in worker activism last year — including a historic six-week strike among 48,000 University of California workers — strike activity is far below historic levels.
Could be short-lived
“In the ’70s and ’60s we saw a million workers striking each year, so the level today is nowhere near pre-pandemic levels,” Poydock said.
The surge in worker militancy could be short-lived. The Supreme Court appears poised to curtail workers’ right to strike further when in Glacier Northwest v. Teamsters. The court will issue a decision in the case, in which a company is suing concrete workers over a strike that made some concrete unusable, sometime before June.
Many observers believe the conservative-dominated court will rule in favor of the employer, opening the door for businesses to sue workers over any strike that causes economic damage to the company.
London — An estimated half a million workers across multiple sectors in the U.K. went on strike Wednesday in the biggest industrial action Great Britain has seen in more than a decade. The strikers included teachers, civil servants, train and bus drivers, border officials and university staff demanding better pay and working conditions amid soaring inflation and energy prices — difficult circumstances that an IMF forecast suggests may have been exacerbated by Brexit.
“The government have been running down our education (system), underfunding our schools and underpaying the people who work in them,” the National Education Union’s joint general secretary, Kevin Courtney, said, according to The Associated Press.
About 85% of schools across the country were either fully or partially closed due to the strikes on Wednesday, according to BBC News, leaving thousands of parents to either change their own work schedules or seek child care options.
Education workers rally in London during a day of strikes across the U.K., February 1, 2023.
Getty
“Primary schools where you can’t find special needs assistants because they’re taking jobs in supermarkets, where they are paid better — that’s what’s making people take action,” said Courtney.
Wide-scale strikes have been held across the U.K. for months, grinding public services to a halt and disrupting hospital and emergency care, among other things. While nurses and ambulance workers weren’t striking again Wednesday, they do plan to return to picket lines in the coming days.
Inflation in the U.K. has soared over the last year to the highest rates seen in 40 years, and it still stood Wednesday at 10.5%.
On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said the U.K. would be the only major economy to contract this year, performing worse even than Russia, which is still under heavy international sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
In October, the IMF forecast that Britain could expect modest growth in 2023, along with other European nations emerging from the coronavirus pandemic and adjusting to energy markets largely devoid of Russian fuel. But its new forecast this week sees the British economy shrinking by 0.6%.
The IMF did not link its prediction to the U.K.’s exit from the European Union three years ago, but Britain’s trade has shrunk as a result, and many workers from the EU have left the U.K. since Brexit, causing a labor shortage that other European countries haven’t had to contend with.
Many public sector workers say that their salaries have decreased in real terms over the last decade, and the soaring inflation has pushed them into financial difficulty, with some forced to use food banks.
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has so far taken a hard line against the strikes, insisting that some of the pay increases being demanded by public sector workers are not affordable for the government. Union leaders say the government has refused to offer anything that would be meaningful enough to call off the strikes.
“Our children’s education is precious, and they deserve to be in school today,” Sunak said.
The leader of a national federation of trade unions, Paul Nowak, said the strikes would not stop unless meaningful change was achieved.
“The message to the government is that this is not going to go away. These problems won’t magically disappear,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Nurses at two New York City hospitals are not backing down as their strike entered a second day. The strike comes during a historic nursing shortage nationwide. Meg Oliver has the details.
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A nursing strike that has disrupted patient care at two of New York City’s largest hospitals entered its second day Tuesday, with a union official saying progress was being made toward a possible settlement at one of the institutions.
The two hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, were postponing nonemergency surgeries, diverting ambulances to other medical centers, pulling in temporary staffers and assigning administrators with nursing backgrounds to work in wards in order to cope with the walkout of as many as 7,100 nurses.
The New York State Nurses Association, which represents the workers, said yesterday it had been forced into the drastic step because of severe understaffing that leaves nurses caring for too many patients.
Nurses and health care workers enter Day 2 of strikes at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients,” the union said in a statement late Sunday.
Progress was being made toward a settlement at Montefiore, Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, a union official and a nurse at the Bronx hospital system, said Tuesday.
On the picket line outside, nurses said they had to strike because chronic understaffing leaves them caring for too many patients.
“We’re tired now — overwhelmed. Nurses are burned out,” said Saffie Sesay, an emergency room nurse at the hospital. “It’s just getting worse.”
“Truly moving to hear from frontline nurses and our supporters about the conditions that have led to this strike,” the NYSNA tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, as of midday, negotiations hadn’t yet resumed at Mount Sinai Hospital, on Manhattan’s east side. Hospital spokesperson Lucia Lee expressed hope that talks could soon resume with the union, the New York State Nurses Association.
“The impact is being felt,” she said of the walkout.
Last holdouts
Montefiore and Mount Sinai are the last of a group of hospitals with nursing contracts that expired simultaneously. The union initially warned that it would strike at all of them at the same time, but the other hospitals reached agreements as a Monday strike deadline approached. All include raises of 7%, 6%, and 5%, respectively, over the next three years.
Nurses on the picket lines stressed that staffing levels are a bigger issue than pay. New York City’s nurses were hailed as heroes in the spring of 2020 when the city was an epicenter of deaths from COVID-19. Now, they say they are being burned out by poor staffing levels that have been a problem for years.
“Remember, even prior to (the) pandemic we’re already short of staff,” said Mount Sinai nurse Nagie Pamphil. She said nurses in her unit are now expected to care for twice as many patients as they can safely handle.
“That’s impossible,” she said.
Montefiore said it had agreed to add 170 more nurses. Mount Sinai’s administration said the union’s focus on nurse-to-patient ratios “ignores the progress we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is impacting hospitals across the country.”
More than 7,000 nurses at two major New York City hospitals went on strike Monday. The nurses are demanding increases in pay and staffing, saying they’re being forced to work long hours and are unable to properly care for patients.
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Nurses at two of New York City’s largest hospitals walked off the job Monday morning in a dispute over pay and staffing levels after a weekend of negotiations failed to produce deals for new contracts, with talks falling apart overnight, CBS New York reported.
The walkouts began at 6 a.m. and involve as many as 3,600 nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and 3,500 at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
The New York State Nurses Association, which represents the workers, said it was being forced into the drastic step because of chronic understaffing that leaves nurses caring for too many patients.
“Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients,” the union said in a statement late Sunday.
At around the time the strikes began, the union tweeted a message saying, “To all of our patients, to all New Yorkers, we want to be absolutely clear: If you are sick, please do not delay getting medical care, regardless of whether we are on strike. In fact, we invite you to come join us on the strike line after you’ve gotten the care you need, adding that seeking care wouldn’t constitute crossing the picket lines.
The hospitals had been getting ready for a walkout by transferring patients, diverting ambulances to other institutions, postponing nonemergency medical procedures and arranging to bring in temporary staffing.
Gov. Kathy Hochul urged the union and the hospitals late Sunday to take their dispute to binding arbitration.
Montefiore’s administration said in a statement that it was willing to let an arbitrator settle the contract “as a means to reaching an equitable outcome.”
The union didn’t immediately accept the proposal. In a statement, it said Hochul, a Democrat, “should listen to the frontline COVID nurse heroes and respect our federally-protected labor and collective bargaining rights.”
Mt. Sinai tweeted overnight that talks with its union members had broken off:
— Mount Sinai Health System (@MountSinaiNYC) January 9, 2023
CBS New York says Montefiore then put out a statement of its own, saying the strike would begin at 6 a.m. and calling it “a sad day for New York City.”
“We remain committed to seamless and compassionate care, recognizing that the union leadership’s decision will spark fear and uncertainty across our community,” the hospital said.
Montefiore and Mount Sinai are the last of a group of hospitals with contracts with the union that expired simultaneously. The Nurses Association had initially warned that it would strike at all of them at the same time – a potential calamity even in a city with as many hospitals as New York.
But one-by-one, the other hospitals struck agreements with the union as the deadline approached.
Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital ratified a deal Saturday that will give them raises of 7%, 6%, and 5% over the next three years while also increasing staffing levels. That deal, which covers 4,000 nurses, has been seen as a template for the negotiations with other hospital systems.
Nurses at two facilities in the Mount Sinai system also tentatively agreed to contracts Sunday. But negotiations continued at the system’s flagship hospital on Manhattan’s east side.
Mount Sinai’s administration said in a statement that the union’s focus on staffing-to-patient ratios “ignores the progress we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is impacting hospitals across the country.”
If the nurses strike, patients are likely to see disruptions in care such as emergency room visits and childbirth.
The station said the tense situation left patients and their families feeling anxious.
“They don’t need this type of distraction,” Sabrena Geborde, the wife of a patient at Mount Sinai, remarked to CBS New York..
Geborde came to Mount Sinai last week with her husband, Troy, who has end stage ALS.
“My husband almost went into cardiac arrest, and when we got here the nurses and doctors did a wonderful job on him,” Geborde said.
The potential strike forced their normal hospital to divert patients, which is how they ended up at Mount Sinai.
“That’s something that you never expect to have to deal with, and having to think of, deal with that, he’s clinging. He’s clinging to life as we speak,” Geborde said, “and they’re saving my husband’s life in there and they’re inside right now helping him.”
Nurses at two of New York City’s largest hospitals were set to go on strike Monday in a dispute over pay and staffing levels after a weekend of negotiations that has yet to produce a deal for a new contract.
The walkout, set to begin at 6 a.m., would involve as many as 3,600 nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and 3,500 at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
The New York State Nurses Association, which represents the workers, said it was being forced into the drastic step because of chronic understaffing that leaves nurses caring for too many patients.
“Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients,” the union said in a statement late Sunday.
The hospitals have been getting ready for a walkout by transferring patients, diverting ambulances to other institutions, postponing nonemergency medical procedures and arranging to bring in temporary staffing.
Gov. Kathy Hochul urged the union and the hospitals late Sunday to take their dispute to binding arbitration.
Montefiore’s administration said in a statement that it was willing to let an arbitrator settle the contract “as a means to reaching an equitable outcome.”
The union didn’t immediately accept the proposal. In a statement, it said Hochul, a Democrat, “should listen to the frontline COVID nurse heroes and respect our federally-protected labor and collective bargaining rights.”
Montefiore and Mount Sinai are the last of a group of hospitals with contracts with the union that expired simultaneously. The Nurses Association had initially warned that it would strike at all of them at the same time – a potential calamity even in a city with as many hospitals as New York.
But one-by-one, the other hospitals struck agreements with the union as the deadline approached.
Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital ratified a deal Saturday that will give them raises of 7%, 6%, and 5% over the next three years while also increasing staffing levels. That deal, which covers 4,000 nurses, has been seen as a template for the negotiations with other hospital systems.
Nurses at two facilities in the Mount Sinai system also tentatively agreed to contracts Sunday. But negotiations continued at the system’s flagship hospital on Manhattan’s east side.
Mount Sinai’s administration said in a statement that the union’s focus on staffing-to-patient ratios “ignores the progress we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is impacting hospitals across the country.”
If the nurses strike, patients are likely to see disruptions in care such as emergency room visits and childbirth.
The station said the tense situation has left patients and their families feeling anxious.
“They don’t need this type of distraction,” Sabrena Geborde, the wife of a patient at Mount Sinai, remarked to CBS New York..
Geborde came to Mount Sinai last week with her husband, Troy, who has end stage ALS.
“My husband almost went into cardiac arrest, and when we got here the nurses and doctors did a wonderful job on him,” Geborde said.
The potential strike forced their normal hospital to divert patients, which is how they ended up at Mount Sinai.
“That’s something that you never expect to have to deal with, and having to think of, deal with that, he’s clinging. He’s clinging to life as we speak,” Geborde said, “and they’re saving my husband’s life in there and they’re inside right now helping him.”
