Thousands of New York nurses notified eight hospitals Friday that they will go on strike within 10 days unless contractual agreements are reached.
Friday was the last scheduled day of negotiations, as the contracts expired on Saturday. The New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents nurses, said it would continue negotiations until the January 9 strike date.
The law requires 10 days notice to give hospitals time to arrange for alternative patient care staff. According to the union, the strike affects about 16,000 nurses from eight private hospitals.
“But the best way for management to protect patients is to listen to nurses and agree to fair contracts that protect patient care over the next 10 days,” the union said in a statement.
The eight hospitals where nurses could strike are New York-Presbyterian, Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center.
Representatives from several hospitals said late on Friday that they were confident contractual agreements would be reached before the strike, but said they were willing to hire outside workers as a precaution as they faced a high patient volume due to the “triple epidemic” of COVID-19, VUR and influenza.
“Although we have proposed unprecedented pay increases, totaling 17.5% over the duration of a four-year contract, sadly the union leadership approach could force nurses to abandon their patients at the head of the bed at the height of triplexemia,” the New York-Presbyterian said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the Mount Sinai Health System, Lucia Lee, said in a statement on Friday that the system’s bargaining teams are continuing “good faith efforts to seek a contract with NYSNA (the union) that is fair in towards our community”. the long-term financial health of our organization.”
Alexander Lutz, a spokesman for Richmond University Medical Center, said the hospital has a policy of not commenting on the negotiations publicly, “as well as saying that we appreciate all of our nurses at Richmond University Medical Center and thank them for the care they have given.” give to each of us, to our patients every day.
The union also represents 1,000 other nurses at five other New York hospitals whose contracts expire on Saturday.
The nurses asked for what they describe as safe staffing levels, fair wages, no cuts in their health coverage, and health and safety protections in light of the “triples”.
They also want community benefits, such as funding programs to hire and train nurses in the communities they serve.
