A number of area hospitals still face a massive nursing strike beginning Monday January 9th. While other hospitals have since reached agreements with the nurses’ union.
Before the new year, roughly 17,000 nurses across 12 private hospitals in New York City voted to authorize a labor strike. The union representing the nurses is the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). The union and its members are demanding safer working conditions and wage increases. The nursing contracts in these hospitals were set to expire in January 2023. The authorization to strike vote was then followed with a mandatory 10 day strike notice.
With the clock ticking, hospital administrators and union representatives have been working to secure new contracts. To date, hospitals like Maimonides in Brooklyn, RUMC in Staten Island, NY Presbyterian in Harlem, and BronxCare have all reached new agreements. These agreements, like for New York-Presbyterian Columbia, contain
- Increases nurse staffing over the next three years.
- Improves staffing standards in the Milstein Emergency Department and staffing enforcement mechanisms.
- Preserves healthcare and other benefits, including retiree health and pension benefits
- Increases salaries over 3 years of the contract 7%, 6 %, and 5%.
- Increases experience differentials to retain nurses, bringing compounded raise to 19.5% over the life of the contract.
However, other large hospitals like Montefiore and Mount Sinai are still in limbo and are slated to strike beginning Monday January 9th. These hospitals are prepared to hire temporary nurses at three times the salaried rate to offset the striking staff. Reddit users in the /r/nursing subreddit discuss the recruiting tactics in the below thread.
Even with temporary replacement nurses, hospitals across the city are expecting patients to be shifted across medical centers. Memorial Sloan Kettering and others are therefore preparing some units for expanded occupancy in the coming weeks if the scheduled strike drags on. There are over 9,000 nurses expected to strike tomorrow, and that vacuum is not likely to be filled quickly.
NYSNA will hold a press briefing today, January 8th, from 11:30 a.m.—12:00 p.m. with NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN.
*** UPDATES ***
NYSNA has announced that Mount Sinai Morningside and West have reached a tentative agreement and will not be striking for now. Montefiore in the Bronx and Mount Sinai NYC are still scheduled to strike.
Nurses and supporters are gathering around Mount Sinai in preparation for the strike.
