Over 10,000 nurses left the picket lines behind, ending their month-long strike in NYC by returning to work at Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Nurses began returning to work at Mount Sinai hospitals and Montefiore early on Saturday, in time for 7 a.m. shifts.
The return marks the near-conclusion of the largest nurses strike in NYC, an ongoing battle over pay, benefits and safe staffing levels. The labor standoff, however, is still in full force at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, where more than 4,200 nurses remain on strike after their union, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) declined the most recent proposal from hospital management and mediators.
But, as a bright spot, NYSNA reps said that the nurses at the other two affected hospital systems were “happy” to get back to their critical calls of duty by Feb. 14.
“After nearly one month in the freezing cold, nurses are happy to get back to their patients with contracts that improve care for New Yorkers,” Nancy Hagains, RN, president of NYSNA, said. “They showed their employers and this city the lengths they would go in order to protect their patients. They’re stronger and more united than ever.”
Hagans added that NYSNA members who have returned to their hospital rounds still support fellow nurses on the picket line outside of NewYork-Presbyterian.
“Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian are still in the fight, back at the picket line, and we need their employer to get back to the table and get their nurses back in the hospital like their union siblings,” she said.
Montefiore and Mount Sinai nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify new three-year contracts that they said protect patient and nurse safety. Their contracts “maintain and improve enforceable safe staffing standards, protect nurses from workplace violence, and maintain nurses’ health benefits,” according to the union.
Their salaries will increase by more than 12% over the life of the three-year contract to recruit and retain nurses. Salaries will increase by approximately 4% in each year of the three-year contracts, the union explained.
Bargaining dates to be set at NewYork-Presbyterian
Mount Sinai management said all nurses were immediately considered active employees once the new contracts were ratified.
“Thank you again to everyone who played a role either big or small to help us navigate these challenges,” Brendan Carr, MD, CEO of Mount Sinai Health System, said in a letter to staff coinciding with the nurses’ return to work. “We never lost sight of the fact that our patients always come first. Our short-term focus is on ensuring that we can rapidly return to normal operations.”
Meanwhile, NYSNA said it has requested new bargaining dates from NewYork-Presbyterian negotiators. The hospital did not immediately respond to amNewYork’s request for comment on the ongoing strike and whether they gave the union new dates for bargaining.
