Nurses’ Strike in Montefiore and Mount Sinai Come to an End – NBC New York (47)

NEW YORK — More than 7,000 male and female nurses at two of New York City’s largest hospitals returned to work Thursday after tentative agreements were reached overnight to meet the union’s key sticking point: improve staffing ratios, thereby ending a three-day strike that disrupted medical care for patients.

Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx and Mount Sinai’s main campus on the East Side of Manhattan reached immediate return-to-work agreements, allowing thousands of male and female nurses to return to bedside, providing front-line critical care. to patients and renewed guarantees for their families and friends, the union said.

At Mount Sinai, male and female nurses returned to the hospital at 7 a.m. after winning safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units with a strong enforcement to always have enough nurses at the bedside to provide safe patient care. patient, the union said. The new staffing ratios are effective immediately in what the New York State Nurses Association called a historic breakthrough for a hospital that it says refused to consider the ratios that male and female nurses have been demanding. during decades.

Montefiore nurses and EMTs will also return to work Thursday after gaining new safe staffing ratios in the emergency department, with new staffing language and financial penalties for failing to meet safe staffing levels across all units. Nurses also won community health improvements and student and nursing associations to recruit local Bronx nurses to stay in Montefiore long-term, NYSNA said.

That tentative deal came first, with Montefiore announcing a tentative deal for a contract that includes 19.1% salary increases, more than 170 new nursing positions, and more resources dedicated to recruiting and retention, as well as preserving “great” fully paid benefits. the hospital said. The new contract will be submitted for ratification next week.

“We came to these bargaining sessions with great respect for our nurses and with proposals that reflect their priorities in terms of pay, benefits, safety and staffing,” Montefiore Medicine President and CEO Dr. Philip Ozuah. “We are grateful for the dedication and commitment of our nurses who have worked under very difficult circumstances over the past few years.”

The agreement also includes maintaining fully funded health care for eligible nurses and lifetime health coverage for eligible retired nurses; an increase in preceptor and charge nurse pay of $5 per hour above standard wages; an increase for floating nurses in emergency rooms; and continue to significantly increase the nurse education infrastructure in emergency departments.

Montefiore and Mount Sinai were the latest in a group of hospitals with contracts that expired simultaneously on Monday. Each has more than 1,000 beds and 3,500 or more unionized nurses.

NYSNA union president Nancy Hagans, a nurse, called the agreements a “historic victory” for nursing workers in New York City and across the country.

“NYSNA nurses have done the impossible, saving lives day and night, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now we’ve proven again that nothing is impossible for heroic nurses,” Hagan said. “Through our unit and putting everything on the line, we achieved safe and enforceable staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai, where nurses went on strike over patient care. Today, we can get back to work with our heads standing tall, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had expressed the urgency of a resolution, greeted returning nursing workers at Mount Sinai just before dawn.

The Democrat said that with the new three-year contract, “they will receive a well-deserved 19% pay raise here. Also better benefits, higher wages for those with higher education, and again, a work environment that allows them to focus on patient care.” “.

Wyckoff hospital nurses also reached a tentative deal overnight and withdrew their 10-day strike notice, NYSNA said.