99.6 Percent of NYSNA Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital Authorize Strike

99.6 Percent of NYSNA Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital Authorize Strike 

Brooklyn nurses vote overwhelmingly to call strike if necessary

New York, NY – Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn concluded voting to authorize a strike last night.  With nearly all members participating in the strike vote, 99.6% of nurses voted yes to authorize a strike. The nurses’ contract expired on April 30, 2023, and the approximately 1,250 nurses at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist have been in negotiations for months with the hospital.

NYSNA member leader Sharonda Green-Carter, RN, said: “We don’t take striking lightly, but our members are united and prepared to strike if NYP-Brooklyn Methodist gives us no other option. Despite many bargaining sessions, hospital administration is still proposing staffing cuts that we find unacceptable and that would compromise the care we are able to deliver to our patients.”

Nurses have been speaking out about current conditions and the cuts to patient care the hospital has proposed during negotiations. On May 4, hundreds of nurses picketed outside the hospital to protest NYP-Brooklyn Methodist’s proposals to strip patient care protections from the nurses’ union contract and to reduce staffing levels in Labor and Delivery, Mother-Baby, Chemotherapy Infusion, and other units. They were joined by fellow healthcare workers, union members, and community and elected leaders, such as New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Assembly Members Robert Carroll and JoAnne Simon, as well as City Council Members Mercedes Narcisse, Sandy Nurse and Lincoln Restler, who demanded the hospital settle a fair contract that protects and improves patient care for the Brooklyn community.

Many small businesses across Park Slope, Brooklyn also showed solidarity with NYSNA nurses fighting for a fair contract by putting up “Listen to the Nurses” posters in their storefronts.

Since the informational picket, safe staffing has remained the sticking point in negotiations. Management has not withdrawn its proposals on staffing cuts and unsafe floating and has not engaged in serious discussions on staffing improvements. Management has also interfered with nurses’ union rights, directed RNs to remove union stickers regarding safe staffing and our collective bargaining demands, and required management approval for union activity.

If NYSNA nurses cannot reach a tentative agreement, they would have to deliver a 10-day notice before going out on strike.

NYSNA member leader Aldrich Crispino, RN, said: “We want NYP-Brooklyn Methodist to come to the table and negotiate in good faith for a fair contract that respects nurses and our patients. Our Brooklyn community deserves quality care, and we are ready to fight and do whatever it takes to deliver the best possible care.”

Last January, the NYSNA nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian’s flagship hospital in Manhattan reached a three-year contract agreement that increased nurse staffing, improved staffing standards and enforcement, preserved healthcare and other benefits, and increased salaries each year of the contract by 7%, 6 %, and 5%. The hospital was the first of 12 New York City private sector hospitals whose contracts expired on December 31, 2022 that reached similar contract agreements with NYSNA.

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