After failing to obtain new contract agreements demanding enhanced staffing levels at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, more than 7,000 nurses across the city went on strike Monday morning.
During overnight negotiations with Mount Sinai or Montefiore administration, the New York State Nurses Association was unable to reach a settlement, according to union and hospital officials.
The hospitals comprise the Upper East Side campus of Mount Sinai and three Montefiore locations in the Bronx.
In a statement released early on Monday, the union said, “We welcome solidarity from our patients, but entering into the hospital to seek the care you need is NOT crossing our strike line.”
In fact, once you’ve received the necessary care, we invite you to come join us on the strike line.
But Mayor Eric Adams cautioned that the strike might affect medical care in a statement late on Sunday.
“Hospitals in some places may encounter operational issues as a result of a nurses’ strike, including perhaps delayed or reduced service. We urge all New Yorkers to use 911 only in true emergencies and to be ready to seek out a different facility in the event that their favoured hospital suffers a setback.
In order to control the flow of ambulances and monitor hospital operations citywide in real time, the New York City Office of Emergency Management launched an interagency situation room on Monday.
The union had informed the hospitals on December 30 that if they were unable to reach an agreement before then to renew their contracts—which were set to expire at the end of 2022—they would go on strike in ten days. After striking tentative three-year agreements, it has already withdrawn strike authorizations for a dozen additional city hospitals, including Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West.
In a last-ditch effort to prevent a walkout, Gov. Kathy Hochul urged the hospitals and union to enter arbitration on Sunday night. The union declined to cancel its strike notice or consent to an arbitration process, but both hospitals quickly concurred.
In a statement released on Sunday, a union representative emphasised that nurses “don’t want to strike.” “Bosses have forced us into strike by not truly considering our recommendations to deal with the dire situation of unsafe staffing that damages our patients,” one employee said.
Additionally, the union is calling for a legal means of enforcing the elevated personnel levels. Although nurses at other hospitals had already accepted their offer of a 19.1 percent compounded compensation raise, Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore administration bragged about it.
One of the biggest strikes the nation has ever seen occurred on Monday. The “biggest private-sector nurses’ strike in U.S. history” occurred in September when about 15,000 hospital nurses in Minnesota walked off the work after going two years without a contract, according to their union. Last year, nurses in California and Hawaii also went on strike.
