New York, NY— Today, Tuesday, June 4 at 2:30 PM, NYSNA nurses will hold an informational picket outside of Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in lower Manhattan. Nurses are calling on Mount Sinai to settle a fair contract with safe staffing, pay parity, and a plan to keep the facility open for care.

WHO: NYSNA Nurses and Community and Elected Allies, including City Council Members Erik Bottcher and Gale Brewer, Metro New York Health Care for All and the Save Beth Israel and New York Eye & Ear Campaign 

WHAT: Picket and Speak-out Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary for Safe Staffing and to Keep Facility Open for Care

WHERE: 310 E. 14th St. (in front of 14th Street entrance of Mount Sinai Eye and Ear)

WHEN: TODAY, Tuesday, June 4
Picket from 2-4, press conference at 2:30 PM

**Visuals: Nurses, community advocates and elected officials picketing in front of the hospital, rallying, and speaking out. Media availabilities with NYSNA nurses. **

“Mount Sinai has pushed services, pushed doctors, and is now pushing nurses away from Sinai Eye and Ear, creating an uncertain future for specialty care in the downtown community,” said local bargaining unit president and Sinai Eye and Ear nurse John Paul Montemayor, RN. “They’ve told us that we’re lesser nurses than the other nurses who work in the Mount Sinai system, but we don’t accept that. Sinai Eye and Ear nurses deserve respect, fair pay, safe staffing and a fair contract that guarantees a future for us and our patients.” 

Mount Sinai is one of the wealthiest hospitals in New York City yet is failing to invest in care for lower Manhattan. They’ve been threatening to close Eye and Ear for years without any plan to serve downtown patients – or the thousands of patients who travel to New York City every year to receive gender-affirming care at the facility. The specialty services of Eye and Ear have been part of the fabric of New York City for over 100 years. Combined with Mount Sinai’s reckless plan to close Beth Israel Hospital, the potential closure of Eye and Ear could leave lower Manhattan patients without essential healthcare services. 

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans RN, BSN, CCRN said, “In 2023, NYSNA nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside won groundbreaking contracts. But Mount Sinai hasn’t agreed to the same fair pay or safe staffing improvements at Eye and Ear that we’ve already won for nurses and patients at their other hospitals. It’s time for that to change.” 

With the future of Sinai Eye and Ear in limbo, unsafe staffing is a growing problem. When nurses leave, hospital administration refuses to hire more nurses. Understaffing strains overworked nurses and can compromise patient care. Nurses are coming together to speak out for a fair contract and to protect patient care.

New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, "It is unacceptable that New York Eye and Ear nurses are the lowest paid within the Mount Sinai system and are grappling with job security concerns. I stand in solidarity with their informational picket for fair wages and job protections. The healthcare of our communities depends on valuing and respecting the dedicated professionals who serve them."

"Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system and they are fighting for what's right,” said City Council Member Gale A. Brewer. “Sinai Eye and Ear nurses need pay parity—they are the lowest paid in the entire Sinai system. These nurses should be inside hospitals caring for patients, not outside fighting for what they should have already.”

Mark Hannay, Director of Metro New York Health Care for All and coordinator of the Save Beth Israel and New York Eye & Ear Campaign, said, “We stand in complete solidarity with the nurses at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary who are trying to negotiate a fair contract with Mount Sinai Health System.  Day in and day out, they provide quality care to all the various patients across the greater New York City region as well as on Manhattan’s Lower East Side who rely on this world-class specialty hospital.”