With banners and whistles, thousands of nurses continue to protest for better working conditions on the second day of the strike in front of Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx.
While on strike they are not paid or have health insurance.
“It’s good enough, it was too much,” said Patricia Henríquez, a striking nurse.
Henríquez has been working in the internal medicine unit for six years. She says that since the start of the pandemic patients have suffered from a lack of nurses like her who have to care for twice as many patients and often work 24 hours a day.
“We are dealing with trauma and mental problems after everything that has happened and we are not taken into account, that is what we are fighting right now,” added Henríquez.
Since September, the union has been in talks with Montefiore executives for a three-year contract renewal but no agreement has been reached.
With the contract, the union asks to regulate the number of patients that nurses can treat, increasing wages by 19% and adding staff. Montefiore has over 600 open nursing positions.
Henriquez.
“We need more nurses and more patient care,” Henríquez said.
For its part, Montefiore sent a statement saying:
“Montefiore remains at the negotiating table, committed to a fair deal that reflects the priorities of our dedicated nurses. Contingency plans remain in place to ensure our hospitals remain open.”
So far Montefiore Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital are the only two left negotiating contracts with the New York State Nurses Union.
The nurses say they won’t stop protesting until they reach a win-win deal.
