NEW YORK — Time is running out, New York City nurses on strike at seven major local hospitals are just five days away, but the nurses union says not all of those hospitals were on the negotiating table Wednesday.
Hospital sources told our sister network NBC New York that beginning Thursday, in preparation for a possible strike, hospitals will begin what they are calling “decanting” their facilities. That means they will start canceling elective procedures, including some pretty major procedures, and releasing patients as soon as clinically possible in an effort to make the patient count.
In addition, sources familiar with the situation said that Mount Sinai Hospital has asked the FDNY to divert ambulances from one of its campuses, in anticipation of the strike. However, that diversion has yet to happen, and it was unclear whether the fire department approved the hospital’s request.
The nurses said there has been some progress at some bargaining tables where hospitals are negotiating with their respective nurses, but not enough to prevent a strike yet. It wasn’t immediately clear why hospitals were taking breaks from talks with an impending deadline, and the responses hospitals provided to NBC New York were vague. Meanwhile, the nurses have said they want talks to continue around the clock if necessary.
“Nurses feel neglected and disrespected by their bosses,” said nurse Nancy Hagans. “We held the hands of dying patients. We arranged last-minute FaceTime calls so dying patients could say goodbye to their loved ones.”
Seven private hospitals (Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center) have been on strike since the morning of Jan. 9, a move that would already send hospitals busy into full crisis mode and potentially have a devastating impact on care.
“It could be a huge public health calamity,” Ken Raske of the Greater New York Hospital Association previously told NBC New York. He described the mood among hospital directors as “extremely apprehensive”.
Each of the hospitals negotiate with their nurses individually, so depending on how the talks go, there could be no strikes, a single strike or up to seven strikes.
The nurses union said there was at least one sign of progress: All the hospitals on the list, except Flushing Hospital, have agreed not to cut health benefits.
“There have been some offers and progress, but we’re not there yet,” Hagans said.
Since Wednesday, all eyes have been on New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the nurses. He came to provisional agreement over the weekend which, if accepted, would give nurses an 18% raise over the next three years, with further incentives to retain experienced nurses. There was also a promise to address chronic staff shortages, which was the union’s biggest complaint.
But there’s a big caveat: NY-Presbyterian is widely considered the wealthiest hospital in the city, and not all hospitals are in the same financial situation. While all hospitals said they were negotiating in good faith, some said they couldn’t afford that much, a major sticking point considering some hospital executives are paid millions.
Smaller hospitals, so-called “safety nets,” rely more on lower reimbursement rates for the care they provide, such as through Medicare or Medicaid. Some of the others on the list say they’re losing money, but the nurses at those hospitals aren’t buying into the argument.
According to a source familiar with the previous Mount Sinai talks, the hospital had previously offered the nurses a deal that included 14 percent raises over four years, a deal the nurses had rejected and was significantly lower than the offer extended by NY. -Presbyterian.
“It’s not up to us if we go out. It’s up to the bosses,” Hagans said.
While it remains to be seen whether NY-Presbyterian nurses will accept the offer, Montefiore Hospital said Wednesday that its hospital’s nursing representatives had turned down a deal that mirrored one offered by NY-Presbyterian. A hospital spokesman said the nurses were being offered “an 18 percent pay rise over three years, fully funded lifelong healthcare and a significant increase in emergency department RNs, among other benefits.”
This development could mean problems for other hospitals given the financial outlook. According to Montefiore’s spokesperson, NY-Presbyterian reported profits of $200 million in 2022, while Montefiore reported losses of $200 million. That kind of deal was deemed potentially unfeasible for other hospitals on the list, but now NY-Presbyterian nurses may think twice before ratifying the deal they’ve tentatively accepted (voting began Tuesday night and concludes Saturday).
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office previously said they are “monitoring the situation.” The sources said both Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams are receiving regular daily updates on the talks. While the hospitals involved are all private, meaning neither Hochul nor Adams have a formal role, some questioned whether they would step in to lobby or try to broker a settlement.
Our sister network NBC New York has learned that other hospitals that haven’t agreed on their own nursing staff are starting to fork out tens of millions of dollars in non-refundable payments to keep casual workers waiting, a huge expense they have to shoulder, even if the strike does not take place.
The GNYHA said this is against nurses’ interest in the union because it forces hospitals to spend money that could go to nurses, but it also increases nurses’ influence once the strike notice is issued. A nurse involved in the negotiations estimated the cost of commercial nurses at approximately $10,000 per week per travel nurse. The New York State Nurses Association has estimated that the mere threat of a strike has already cost temporary agencies up to $32 million, a cost they say could rise to more than $90 million if itinerant nurses replace them for five or six days. . .
“Our emergency rooms are supported, tripledemia is raging,” Raske said. “Even if a hospital were to go on strike, it could affect the whole system.”
The New York State Nurses Association has up to 12,000 members threatening strike action at seven respective hospitals whose contracts expired on Dec. 31.
The union says members are upset by staffing reports at local hospitals, proposed contracts that they believe drastically worsen their health care benefits (by paying large bonuses to executives), and Mayor Adams’ recent decision to forcibly hospitalize psychiatric patients. All of these elements left the workers overworked and exhausted.
“We can’t clean the patient on time, we can’t give medication on time, there are no breaks,” Allen said. “The burnout was real, so we quit the profession and went to work for a travel agency that will pay us more.”
In a statement on Monday, a Mount Sinai spokesman said its contracting teams “continue to make good-faith efforts to secure a contract with NYSNA that is fair to our community and responsible for long-term financial health.” of our organization”. Mount Sinai nurses deserve the best possible work environment, wages and benefits, and we tirelessly pursue them for the benefit of all of our employees.”
The statement added that the hospital system is “prepared for staffing changes and we will do everything we can to ensure that the care of our patients is not disrupted and we will do everything we can to minimize discomfort to patients.”
The median salary for nurses in New York is $93,000 and $98,000 in New York City, the nurses union and GNYHA confirmed. However, there is a large disparity between the pay of nurses in private and public hospitals, where salaries are nearly $20,000 less.
All of this comes as the city grapples with what’s being referred to as a tridemic: severe and simultaneous spikes in COVID-19 infections, flu, and respiratory RSV.
The city has already issued a notice (but not a mandate) suggesting people go back to wearing masks indoors.
