(NEW YORK CITY) – On Thursday (October 23rd), New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Nurses in New York City continued a week of action at several hospitals.
Amidst looming Federal health care cuts, Nurses and allies gathered across the City to demand hospitals protect health care and invest in patient care, rather than executive pay.
Nurses were joined by New York State Senator Robert Jackson, City Council Member Shaun Abreu, Assembly Members George Alvarez, Landon Dais, and Jeffrey Dinowitz, Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition, Mekong NYC, CIR/Service Employee International Union (SEIU) and Citizen Action, WEACT, New York Immigration Coalition and South Bronx Unite.
Over the last few months, NYSNA Nurses and Health Care Professionals have fought to protect health care across New York State.
If the Trump administration’s impending health care cuts proceed, they will likely increase the number of uninsured New Yorkers by over a million, which will increase health insurance premiums for all and could lead to the loss of billions in Federal health care funding for New York.
While Nurses have fought to save health care for patients and their communities, hospitals have cut Front-Line Staff and services and instead invested in outrageous executive pay, risky new technologies and meritless lawsuits, NYSNA added.
The Nurses’ public campaign – Nurses Care for New York, defends New York’s Health Care System and ensures that all New Yorkers have access to safe patient care.
NYSNA Nurses are united around a five-point platform that consists of: Quality patient care through enforceable safe staffing; Defending access to care when patients’ health care services and Staff are under attack; Protecting Nurses, so they can continue to care for their patients; Making sure every patient is administered to by a real Nurse; and Fair wages and benefits to recruit and retain Nurses.
Approximately 20,000 NYSNA Nurses – who are employed at 12 Private Sector Hospitals and whose contracts expire on December 31st (2025), have already begun bargaining for fair contracts that help protect patient care.
At BronxCare, NYSNA Nurses are demanding a fair contract that strengthens safe staffing.
Last year, BronxCare made the shocking decision to lay off its long-time Nurse Practitioners in the Family Medicine Unit.
As the only private hospital outside the Montefiore System in the Bronx – and only one of two hospitals serving the entire South Bronx Community, cutting these positions potentially compromises quality care for Bronx families, NYSNA said.
Nurses know hospital executives can afford to safely staff their hospitals and they are concerned that unsafe staffing contributes to safety issues.
As such, they are demanding the hospital take action to protect patient care.
At Montefiore in the Bronx, Nurses have been fighting for safe staffing to alleviate overcrowding and the high number of hallway patients in the Emergency Department and throughout the hospital.
In Spring 2024, the hospital announced a “restructuring plan” that involved reducing the number of beds at Montefiore Moses and eliminating some services.
Moses and Weiler still have overcrowded Emergency Rooms and patients are routinely left to wait in hallways, NYSNA said.
While Montefiore holds a near monopoly on hospital care in the Bronx, it has invested in expanding care in Westchester in recent years, instead of focusing on improving patient care in the Bronx.
Nurses and their allies are coming together to say the Bronx deserves better.
NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the most financially stable Hospital Systems in the country, announced cuts to services and Front-Line Staff in May, citing an uncertain economic future.
In 2024, their net income was $1.4 billion.
According to their first quarter 2025 financial report, released after NewYork-Presbyterian announced staffing and service cuts, the Health System earned a nearly $97 million surplus and brought in $2.7 billion in revenue.
That’s a 4% increase in revenue from the same time period last year.
Instead of investing in safe patient care and safely staffing their hospitals, they have spent untold amounts of money on meritless lawsuits against Nurses, who have fought for enough Nurses at the bedside to safely do their jobs.
After hearing their arguments, a Federal Judge described their tactics as a form of “gamesmanship” to avoid resolving disputes (New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist v. New York State Nurses Association, 24-cv-05750-NRM (Eastern District of New York, August 22nd, 2024), Transcript of Civil Cause for Order to Show Cause, at *57).
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said: “We challenge our hospitals to do as much as Nurses do to protect health care. Instead, we’ve watched them play games with investments and lawsuits, continue to pad their wallets and cry that there aren’t enough funds to protect Front-Line Staff and services. Our communities deserve better. And that’s why our Nurses are speaking up! We will not stop until we ensure that our city’s private hospitals do more to protect the Health Care System that so many New Yorkers depend on.”
To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: NYSNA NURSES TAKE ACTION ACROSS THE CITY TO DEFEND NYC’S HEALTHCARE | New York State Nurses Association
Photos Courtesy Of NYSNA’s Facebook Page.