NEW YORK (WABC) — As the 12th day of the nursing strike comes to an end, the New York State Nurses Association says talks with hospital executives have broken off with no new negotiations scheduled.
Union reps reportedly walked out after management’s latest offer and ripped it up during a rally at the Javits Center.
The union says New York Presbyterian and Mount Sinai are still demanding drastic cuts to their health care coverage, something the hospital systems have denied.
Nurses say they plan to be back on the picket line on Saturday, but likely won’t picket on Sunday due to the storm.
Montefiore said some progress was made but there is still a distance to go.
On Friday morning, New-York Presbyterian said it remains committed to reaching a fair agreement.
NewYork-Presbyterian released a statement Friday night. “Today (Friday), bargaining took place through the mediator on site at the Javits Center. We presented a series of proposals, including an increased economic proposal with healthcare benefits which remain at zero cost to our nurses, and are some of the best in the nation. NYSNA walked away from the negotiations this evening with no commitment to bargain tomorrow (Saturday). We are committed to the bargaining process and will be at the table when NYSNA is ready to return and have a constructive dialogue towards a reasonable agreement.”
Now, some nurses face losing their health benefits if the strike continues. Montefiore warned union members they have until February 1 before they would need to start paying for their own benefits.
Montefiore provides free healthcare to its nurses and says it is required by federal law to notify nurses of the upcoming deadline.
A spokesperson from Mount Sinai said in a statement,” Today, negotiators from The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, and Mount Sinai West again followed the direction of their respective mediators on how to proceed with the bargaining process. They met with NYSNA from the early morning until after 8 pm, when NYSNA walked away from the bargaining table to hold a long-planned news conference after rejecting Mount Sinai’s increased economic offer-a $28,500 cumulative increase for nurses.While Mount Sinai came to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement, NYSNA leadership violated the mediators’ rules by issuing an ultimatum to Mount Sinai negotiators and holding a press conference to again mischaracterize discussions around health care benefits. They repeated their lies claiming that Mount Sinai is holding nurses’ health care benefits hostage-despite the fact that no Mount Sinai negotiator has made any proposal about cutting or discontinuing health care benefits. While NYSNA provided a revised economic proposal during yesterday’s bargaining session, it only reduced base wage increases while maintaining every single other economic demand-still requesting an $80,000 increase for nurses at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Their economic proposal would cost the hospital $1.55 billion, with a 68.2 percent increase in nursing costs after the third year, down slightly from the 72.7 percent increase from NYSNA’s previous economic proposal.”
Just before noon, the New York State Nurses Association released a statement saying:
“Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, and NewYork-Presbyterian are still demanding cuts to nurses’ healthcare benefits, which would impact not only nurses at these hospitals but approximately 44,000 nurses and their families at over 50 hospitals around the state who are enrolled in NYSNA’s health benefit plan. As nurses have said from the beginning, and as we’ve shown at the bargaining table, we are willing to negotiate on wages, but we are not willing to cut corners on patient and nurse safety. Nurses remain ready to bargain in good faith every day until we settle fair contracts that protect patients and nurses.”
A spokesperson for Mount Sinai said both sides couldn’t come to an agreement on health care benefits Thursday, but it said the union reduced its raise proposals to 7% in the first year, 6% in the second year, and 5% in the third year.
Both sides were able to reach tentative agreements on policies for employees with substance abuse disorders.
Thursday night, unionized nurses met with hospital executives to try to settle fair contracts that protect patient and nurse safety.
The nurses allege that the negotiations started several hours later than planned on Thursday.
“It’s the tactics management keeps playing,” said Doris Anning, a Montefiore labor and delivery nurse. “Management has been in the room, in and out, with no agreement on anything.”
Many nurses are simply working to make ends meet after missing their first paychecks this week.
They’ve now been on the picket line for 12 straight days.
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