ADVISORY: NYC Nurse Strike for Safe Staffing Continues into Third Day at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Bronx
**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WEDNESDAY, Jan. 11**
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Eliza M. Bates | eliza.bates@nysna.org |646-285-8491
NYC Nurse Strike for Safe Staffing Continues into Third Day at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Bronx
Media Availabilities at 12 p.m. at Montefiore Moses Campus
One More NYSNA-Represented Hospital Ratifies New Contract
New York, NY—NYC nurses are entering the third day of a strike for better patient care. Nurses at Montefiore Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital will be back on the picket lines from 7 a.m to 7 p.m. today and every day until agreements can be reached. The key sticking point in negotiations is making sure there are enough nurses at the bedside to safely care for patients. Neither Mount Sinai nor Montefiore have agreed to nurses’ proposals to enforce safe staffing levels, even though nurses have been sounding the alarm about the crisis of understaffing that harms patient care. At Montefiore, one nurse in the Emergency Department often has to care for up to 20 patients; One NICU nurse at Mt. Sinai will often be responsible for 3 or 4 very sick babies at once.
WHAT: Day 3 Strike Media Availabilities with NYSNA Nurses and Supporters
WHERE: Montefiore Moses Campus at 111 East 210th St., Bronx
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 12 p.m., noon
Media availability will be livestreamed at facebook.com/NYNurses
ALL STRIKE LOCATIONS WHERE PICKETING WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 7 AM TO 7 PM:
Montefiore Moses - 111 East 210th St., Bronx
Montefiore Weiler - 1825 Eastchester Rd., Bronx
Montefiore Hutch - 1250 Waters Pl., Bronx
Mount Sinai Hospital - 1 Gustave Levy Pl, Madison & 99th, NY
Yesterday, Montefiore nurses were on the strike line and back at the bargaining table, attempting to reach a tentative agreement. Talks resumed late yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital but no deal was reached. Thousands of nurses picketed throughout the day. In the afternoon on Jan. 10, NYSNA nurses at Mount Sinai Morningside and West approved a new contract by over 70 percent.
Background on the NYC Nurse Strike for Safe Staffing
RNs have been sounding the alarm about the understaffing crisis that puts patients at risk, especially during a tripledemic of COVID, RSV and flu. Nurses say hospitals aren’t doing enough to keep caregivers at the bedside. Hospital executives paid themselves millions in sky-high salaries and bonuses during the pandemic at the same time they hiked hospital prices. Management can afford to do better. Top executives at NYC hospitals increased their compensation by 10% between 2019 and 2020. Top executives' total compensation on average is $1.1 million. Nurses are calling on hospital management put patients over profits. Two-thirds of RNs across the country say they are planning to leave the profession in the next two years, with understaffing leaving caregivers burnt out and at their breaking point. Nurses have detailed how chronic understaffing in hospitals is unsafe for patients and nurses. Patients suffer and experience worse health outcomes when nursing care is rushed or delayed due to understaffing. Nurses are urging hospitals to maintain safe staffing standards in all hospitals as a matter of health equity and quality care for all.
Instead of working with COVID nurse heroes, in some cases, hospitals have tried to silence nurses from speaking out about understaffing. Some hospitals have even engaged in unfair and unlawful behavior, trying to stop RNs from speaking to the media, threatening RNs who have spoken out, spying on and questioning RNs about their union, interfering with union rights, directing RNs to remove union stickers and discriminating and retaliating against union members. The hospitals also failed to provide key information regarding use of agency RNs essential to negotiations. NYSNA nurses at 12 NYC hospitals that had contracts expiring on Dec. 31 began bargaining in September 2022 on a common platform to improve patient care. On Dec. 30, NYSNA nurses at eight hospitals delivered strike notices to their employers. Six of those hospitals now have ratified contracts, and only Montefiore and Mount Sinai nurses began a strike on Jan. 9. The strike is open-ended and will end when hospital executives deliver fair contracts that address the crisis of chronic understaffing that harms patient care.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO NEW YORKERS: DO NOT DELAY GETTING HOSPITAL CARE
To all of our patients, to all New Yorkers, we want to be absolutely clear: If you are sick, please do not delay getting medical care, regardless of whether we are on strike. Patients should seek hospital care immediately if they need it. We would rather be the ones providing that care, but our bosses have pushed us to be out here instead. We appreciate solidarity from our patients — but going into the hospital to get the care you need is NOT crossing our strike line. In fact, we invite you to come join us on the strike line after you've gotten the care you need. We are out here so we can provide better patient care to you!
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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide. For more information, visit nysna.org.