The striking nurses braved real-feel temperatures of 5° F to turn up the heat on hospital executives after negotiations broke down in January.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The largest nurses strike in NYC history entered its 22nd day on Monday. A deal to end it remains elusive.
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) once again met with management at the three affected hospitals over the weekend at the Javits Center to assess new proposals from the union in an effort to fairly end the strike, which has taken nearly 15,000 caretakers off the job and onto the picket line.
NYSNA said it put forward “comprehensive revised proposals” aimed at improving staff levels with “no takeaways” on safe staffing accountability. The proposals also protect nurses’ health benefits, prevent workplace violence and increase wages to help recruit and retain experienced nurses, the union said.
“We streamlined and revised our proposals in an effort to bring hospital executives back to the table to negotiate in good faith and settle fair contracts as quickly as possible to get nurses back to work to care for New York City,” the union said in a statement.
The union did not elaborate on the details of the revised plan. According to management at NewYork-Presbyterian, nurses have asked for an approximate 25%wage increase. At Mount Sinai, the union originally put on the table a raise in average nurse pay to nearly $250,000 before benefits are factored in, a hospital spokesperson said.
The three affected hospital systems—Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian in Manhattan and Montefiore in the Bronx—issued a joint statement about where management stands in the process.
“We made a fair, reasonable and responsible economic proposal that provides annual wage increases and continues generous healthcare and pension benefits, under an economic structure that works for all of the parties and the safety-net hospitals that are tied to our economic terms,” the hospitals’ statement read. “We are now assessing the rest of the union’s proposals so that we can respond with a comprehensive settlement offer in order to end the strike and bring our nurses back.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, Brooklyn Hospital Center was at the center of a labor debate, as NYSNA nurses said the hospital has not paid their healthcare and pension benefits for “three consecutive months,” union president Nancy Hagans, RN, said.
“While NYSNA nurses who care for our Brooklyn communities are losing their healthcare, executives are getting paid millions,” Hagans said. “The Brooklyn Hospital Center is breaking their commitment to their hard-working nurses.”
amNewYork contacted Brooklyn Hospital Center regarding the lost payment claims and is awaiting a response.
The facility was originally on the list of hospitals planning to strike in early January. NYSNA avoided a strike after management agreed to a contract that “protects healthcare and pension benefits,” the union said, demanding the hospital stick to its agreement.
“A hospital that refuses to protect those who care for patients puts patients and the community at risk,” Hagans said. “These greedy hospital executives need to reinstate nurses’ benefits now.”
Meanwhile, the nurses made progress last week at Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian, where both hospitals agreed to maintain the caretakers’ health benefits, which was a sticking point in the labor standoff. Healthcare benefits have not been on the bargaining table between Montefiore and NYSA.
Hospitals remain open during nurses’ strike
The affected hospitals and their emergency rooms remain open with the help of agency nurses and the NYS Department of Health. Both hospital management and NYSNA urge New Yorkers to seek hospital care if needed.