STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Nurses at one Staten Island hospital are ready to walk off the job in 10 days if management doesn’t reach a contract with their union.
Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) nurses were among 20,000 of the New York City nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association who notified their hospitals Friday of the impending strikes if a contract isn’t reached by Jan. 12.
New York State Nurses Association President Nancy Hagans, a Staten Islander and nurse at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, said part of the nurses’ goals in negotiation has been preserving their healthcare benefits and improved security at their hospitals.
“Nurses are ready to settle fair contracts that protect New York City patients. But management seems determined to fight against frontline caregivers instead of working with us to protect our patients,” she said. “We have been bargaining for months, but hospitals have not done nearly enough to settle fair contracts that protect patient care. Striking is always a last resort; however, nurses will not stop until we win contracts that deliver patient and nurse safety. The future of care in this city is far too important to compromise on our values as nurses.”
If taken, the strike action would be the largest among nurses in the city’s history and impact some of the largest medical systems in the five boroughs, including Maimonides, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia University Medical Center.
Lisa Yeno, a member of the union’s negotiating executive committee at RUMC, previously told the Advance/SILive.com that nurses’ main concern at the local hospital is a lack of security, which she said can often leave her and her colleagues at risk of becoming victims of violence.
“We’ve had some incidents in the recent past of nurses getting assaulted and in pretty significant situations where nurses have been significantly injured,” Yeno, a 25-year veteran of the hospital, said. “We’re asking for some more increased security and metal detectors, weapons detectors and panic buttons, because we’ve seen an increase in workplace violence, especially in places like the emergency room and [psychiatric] units.”
Cheryl Garber, a RUMC spokesperson, declined comment on specifics of the negotiations but said they remain ongoing.
“Richmond University Medical Center is committed to negotiating in good faith with the New York State Nurses Association. While discussions are ongoing, we cannot comment on specific details,” she said. “We want to emphasize that we deeply value and appreciate our nurses for the exceptional care they provide to our patients and community every day.”
A strike would mean the hospital would need to hire outside nurses to meet its staffing needs while the labor action is ongoing.