15,000 Nurses Begin Strike Against Mount Sinai and NY-Presbyterian Hospitals

One of the largest strikes by nurses in New York City began on Jan. 12 when round-the-clock negotiations failed to reach an accord between the New York State Nurses Association and hospitals run by Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

An estimated 15,000 nurse are on strike seeking better pay and benefits and increased security for nurses.

The union says the recent shooting of a patient who had taken two people hostage at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and a shooting last November of a 20-year-old man who had threatened to shoot up a Mount Sinai hospital on the Upper East Side are reasons greater protections are needed for nurses. That hospital on Madison Avenue is one of the branches being targeted by the strike, which has hit five Manhattan hospitals, including four on the Upper West Side.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani weighed in on behalf of the striking nurses and walked the picket line at a Mount Sinai hospital in Washington Heights.

“This strike is not just a question of how much nurses earn per hour or what health benefits they receive, although both of those issues matter deeply. It is also a question of who deserves to benefit from this system,” Mamdani said. “There is no shortage of wealth in the healthcare industry, especially so at the three privately operated hospital groups at which nurses are striking, the wealthiest in the entire city.”

He urged all sides to return to the bargaining table.

The hospitals maintain that recent healthcare cuts have put them in a precarious financial position and that the strike could be imperiling patient safety. The cuts orchestrated by the Trump administration cut about $1 billion from Medicaid, the healthcare payment system used by lower-income individuals. There is also no resolution to the Affordable Care Act subsidies that expired on Jan. 1. The ensuing price hikes expected to prompt an undetermined number of people of the 24 million people currently on Obamacare to drop their insurance due to skyrocketing costs.

A statement from NewYork-Presbyterian said, “While NYSNA has told nurses to walk away from the bedside, we remain focused on our patients and their care. This strike is designed to create disruption, but we have taken the necessary steps so our patients continue to receive the care they trust us to provide . . . We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment.”

Mount Sinia accused the NYSNA of making “extreme” demands in the negotiations.

”Unfortunately, NYSNA decided to move forward with its strike while refusing to move on from its extreme economic demands, which we cannot agree to, but we are ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses— and prepared to continue to provide safe patient care for as long as this strike lasts,” the spokesperson for Mount Sinai said.

Joe Solmonese, Montefiore’s senior VP of strategic communications, said in a statement before the strike: ”NYSNA’s leaders continue to double down on their $3.6 billion in reckless demands, including nearly 40 percent wage increases, and their troubling proposals like demanding that a nurse not be terminated if found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job. We remain resolute in our commitment to providing safe and seamless care, regardless of how long the strike may last.”

The union counters that the visiting nurses who are being recruited on a temporary basis means the hospitals are prepared to spend several hundred million dollars on non-union nurses during a strike but would be better off using the funds to give nurses pay hikes.

Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, says, “Instead of guaranteeing healthcare for nurses, these wealthy hospitals are pushing to cut health benefits for nurses who put their own health on the line to care for New Yorkers.”