Thousands of nurses at two of New York City’s largest hospitals went on strike Monday morning after a weekend of negotiations over pay and staff failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.
More than 7,000 nurses from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan were expected to take part in the walkout, the New York State Nurses Association, the largest union representing registered nurses, said in a statement. in the state. Press release Monday.
Nurses at two facilities within the Mount Sinai health care system tentatively agreed to the contracts Sunday, according to a announcement of the union, but negotiations continued at its flagship hospital.
«Nurses don’t want to go on strike,» the union said in a declaration Sunday afternoon. «The bosses have pushed us into strike action by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staff harming our patients.»
Montefiore and Mount Sinai were among a number of hospitals with union contracts that expired. The New York State Nurses Association had threatened to strike all affected hospitals at the same time, but other hospitals reached agreements with the union before the deadline.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged the two outstanding hospitals and the union to take their dispute to binding arbitration in a declaration Sunday.
«Strikes have been averted at New York Presbyterian, University of Richmond Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center,» he said. «However, there are outstanding issues in Montefiore and Mount Sinai and I now call for binding arbitration so that all parties can quickly reach a resolution.»
The governor said that, in the meantime, the New York State Department of Health would continue to enforce staffing requirements at both hospitals «to maintain the delivery of essential health care services to the community and to protect the health and safety of patients.» patients».
In its statement on Sunday, the union said Hochul “should listen to the nursing heroes on the front lines of Covid and respect our federally protected labor and collective bargaining rights.”
Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday that the union had «refused to accept the exact same 19.1 percent wage increase offer agreed to by eight other hospitals, including two other Mount Sinai Health System campuses.»
«NYSNA continues its reckless behavior, rejecting Governor Hochul’s proposal for binding arbitration,» Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday. “The Governor’s proposal would have provided a path to avoid this strike, which unfortunately is forcing nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital to leave their patients’ beds,” she said.
Montefiore’s management had previously said in a statement that it was willing to let an arbitrator terminate the contract «as a means to reach an equitable result,» according to The Associated Press.
In an updated statement Monday morning, Montefiore said that despite his offer «of a 19.1% compounded salary increase, the same offer agreed upon at wealthier peer institutions, and a commitment to create more than 170 new nursing jobs, and despite a call from Governor Hochul for arbitration, NYSNA leadership has decided to stay away from their patients’ bedside.»
«This is a sad day for New York City,» he said.
The New York State Nurses Association did not immediately respond to overnight requests for comment.
The Associated Press contributed.
