More than 10,000 union nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospitals ended the longest and largest nurses strike in New York City on Monday after negotiating fair health care benefits, safe staffing groups, and improved workplace safety measures.
The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the union representing the nurses, announced that workers will vote on a series of tentative agreements with the two hospitals, negotiated over the weekend, later in the week. Nurses were set to vote sometime between Feb. 9 and 11.
If they ratify the contract, they will return to work on Feb. 14 and effectively end their participation in the strike 28 days after walking off the job in early January.
However, 4,200 nurses are still at the strike line at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, aiming to reach a new contract that ensures nurse departments are appropriately staffed, union officials said.
“We really appreciate all the solidarity we have received. It’s a great reminder that New York City’s unions and elected officials keep this city a union town,” NYSNA Executive Director Pat Kane said in a press release. “It shows that this strike is not just about nurses, it’s about protecting care for all working people.”
Mount Sinai CEO Brendan Carr issued a statement addressing community members about what a potential transition for nurses to return to work would entail.
“This process has been difficult for all of us,” Carr wrote, vowing to share more details about nurses’ return to work if the contract is ratified. “While it has been amazing to once again see Mount Sinai do extraordinary things in order to serve our patients and community, it will take time to rebuild the momentum that we had in the alignment of our organization.”
A spokesperson for Montefiore did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Nurses at the three major hospitals began their historic strike in early January, braving the frigid New York winter and sacrificing their pay and health care to secure a safer and more financially just workplace.
Since then, elected leaders from New York and elsewhere have shown up to the strike line, demanding that the hospitals meet union nurses at the bargaining table.
Part of the gains secured by union negotiators include commitments to maintaining enforceable safe staffing standards, which were a key sticking point nurses highlighted in interviews with Prism earlier this month. They said it would improve patient care.
Two other major highlights among the temporary agreements include protection against rising health insurance costs and increased workplace safety measures.
“Nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai systems are heading back to the bedside with our heads held high after winning fair tentative contracts,” NYSNA President Nancy Haggans said in a statement.
Elesha Van Zee, a radiology nurse at Mount Sinai West, said the prospect of ratifying a new contract that prioritizes affordable health care will help her family’s medical care remain on track. Van Zee’s husband Ivan Larios had been receiving care at a Mount Sinai hospital under Van Zee’s insurance to treat a severe infection on his leg that stemmed from a series of grave fractures he suffered in 2020.
“His care has been on hold for the duration of the strike,” she said. “Even though we will have health coverage upon return to work, there are still issues we need to resolve, like Mount Sinai physicians being out of network for nurses and our families. This is still a stressful situation that I hope to overcome. Because of the extent of the injury, he cannot transfer his care to another physician.”
Negotiators also secured protections for nurses in the workplace, which workers have said is an imperative for nurses to provide adequate care.
“My patients deserved to feel safe in a hospital while receiving the care,” Van Zee said. “If I’m not even ensured safety, then how can I ensure their safety to the best of my ability?”
Part of those safety measures include protections that negotiators secured for immigrant and trans patients.
KA Hogan, an emergency department nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital, said protections against immigration enforcement investigations in hospitals carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are vital to nurses and patients alike.
“We have seen ICE come into hospitals,” Hogan told Prism in January. “We have seen patients be concerned about being deported and seeking health care because of the violence of ICE.”
The hospitals also agreed to increase nurses’ salaries by more than 12% over the life of the three-year contract in order to recruit and retain nurses for safe patient care.
But as nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai mull potentially ratifying their new contracts, the strike at NewYork-Presbyterian rages on.
Both parties last met Sunday, Feb. 8, but union officials said safe staffing concerns remain among the rank and file. A NewYork-Presbyterian spokesperson did not address a list of questions about where both parties stand, but said mediators presented a “comprehensive proposal” to all parties during the Sunday meeting.
“NewYork-Presbyterian accepted the proposal which includes the same wage increases for all three hospitals, as well as preserves the pension, maintains our nurses’ health benefits, and includes increased staffing levels. We look forward to bringing our nurses back to care for our patients,” the spokesperson wrote.
For Van Zee, the resilience nurses have shown is indicative of their commitment to their patients. As the strike continues at NewYork-Presbyterian, Van Zee wished those nurses unity.
“The only reason we won our contract is because nurses stayed united and strong and fought back,” she said. “It breaks my heart for those nurses, their families, and their patients. A strike is never wanted, and the choice is a difficult one to make. Standing up for yourself, your family, and for your patients is a brave choice and you sacrifice your entire livelihood, which I don’t think people realize.”
Original source: US