Nurses Go on Strike at 2 Big New York City Hospitals

In a dispute over salary and staffing levels, nurses at two of New York City's top hospitals went on strike Monday after a weekend of discussions ended without a new contract being reached.

Up to 3,500 nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and about 3,600 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan are participating in the walkout. Patients may have care interruptions from things like ER visits and childbirth.

As a result of persistent understaffing that forces them to care for an excessive number of patients, the New York State Nurses Association, which represents the employees, claimed it was forced to take this severe action.

"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.

"We remain committed to seamless and compassionate treatment, realising that the union leadership's decision will generate anxiety and uncertainty across our community," Montefiore officials said in a statement on Monday.

The hospital intended to fill nursing shifts with managers who were not union representatives.

officials from Mount Sinai said on Monday, "The security of our patients is our first priority. Although NYSNA is on strike, we are prepared to cause the least amount of disturbance possible and we encourage Mount Sinai nurses to carry on offering the top-notch care for which they are renowned."

In preparation for a walkout, Montefiore and Mount Sinai moved patients, diverted ambulances to other facilities, delayed routine medical procedures, and made plans for temporary staffing.

Late on Sunday, Governor Kathy Hochul encouraged the hospitals and the union to submit their disagreement to formal arbitration.

The management of Montefiore had said that it was prepared to let an arbitrator decide the contract "as a means to achieve an equitable resolution."

The plan was not immediately accepted by the union. Hochul, a Democrat, was urged in a statement to "listen to the frontline COVID nursing heroes and honour our legally protected labour and collective bargaining rights."

The latest of a group of hospitals with contracts with the union that expired concurrently are Montefiore and Mount Sinai. Even in a city with as many hospitals as New York, the Nurses Association had initially issued a warning that it would all be affected at once.

But as the deadline drew near, the other hospitals reached agreements with the union one by one.

A contract granting nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital salaries of 7%, 6%, and 5% over the following three years while simultaneously raising staffing levels was approved on Saturday. This agreement, which affects 4,000 nurses, has served as a model for discussions with other hospital systems.

On Sunday, contracts for nurses at two Mount Sinai facilities were also reached in a preliminary manner. However, talks went on at the system's main hospital on the East Side of Manhattan.

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."