The nurses’ strike in NYC continued on Thursday with representatives of nearly 15,000 unionized caretakers meeting with hospital management to negotiate contract demands as the city’s largest nurses’ walkout entered its 11th day.
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) said it planned to negotiate with the three affected hospitals, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian in Manhattan, and Montefiore in the Bronx, throughout the day in the hope of finally putting a fair end to the historic nurses strike.
In addition to asking for better pay, more staff, and improved workplace conditions, the nurses have maintained that three labor and delivery nurses were fired in retaliation, leading up to the strike.
“The hospital’s attempts to intimidate nurses have clearly been unsuccessful,” said Nancy Hagans, RN, and NYSNA president. “Nurses are out in force every day, continuing to fight for the safety of their patients and their colleagues. As a union, we will also fight these disciplines and terminations because Mount Sinai’s union-busting has no place in this city.”
NYSNA filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against Mount Sinai for retaliation; the hospital has denied that the terminations were a counterattack against the strike.
“Three nurses were disciplined after their own co-workers complained about them interfering with other nurses providing patient care in the emergency department,” hospital management said in a statement. “We value our nurses and could not risk patient care by allowing them to be distracted from providing world-class patient care.”
Meanwhile, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Sam Levine visited the strike line at Mount Sinai and met with the nurses.
The union and management have not been able to see eye-to-eye on contract demands, which led to the start of the strike on Jan. 12. Each of the three hospital systems is working independently with the nurses. Talks that have taken place since the nurses’ contract expired on Dec. 31 have not been successful.
Thursday’s bargaining meetings were ongoing throughout the day. Results of the talks were not announced at press time.
The affected hospitals and their emergency rooms remain open with the help of agency nurses and the NYS Department of Health. Both hospital management and the union urge New Yorkers to seek care at hospitals if they need it.
