NYC nursing strike enters second day with no new talks as Mount Sinai fires three nurses

New York City’s biggest nursing strike in decades entered its second day Tuesday without new bargaining sessions, as the New York State Nurses Association filed an unfair labor practice charge against Mount Sinai Medical Center for terminating three nurses on the eve of the walkout. The union said the dismissals were intended to deter nurses from joining roughly 15,000 colleagues who walked off the job Monday at multiple campuses of three major hospital systems. Mount Sinai disputed that account, saying security footage showed the nurses had hidden supplies from replacement workers during emergency preparedness drills.

The work stoppage — involving nurses at Mount Sinai, Montefiore Medical Center, and NewYork-Presbyterian — centers on staffing levels, wages, and workplace safety, with no new talks scheduled as of Tuesday evening and city emergency officials reporting no major disruption to patient care.

The firing dispute

The New York State Nurses Association filed the unfair labor practice charge Tuesday, saying Mount Sinai had illegally terminated the three nurses on the strike’s eve. Liliana Prestia, speaking at a rally at Mount Sinai’s flagship campus on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, said the hospital was trying to silence workers.

“We will not be bullied,” Prestia said. “It was Mount Sinai’s cruel attempt to stop us from joining the strike line and to make us an example to our fellow nurses.”

Mount Sinai said the nurses had hid supplies from replacement nurses in training during emergency preparedness drills, conduct the hospital called “completely unacceptable behavior” captured on security footage.

Union officials said none of the three hospital systems had agreed to schedule additional bargaining sessions since meetings held Sunday. Montefiore said the union had not reached out to request new talks.

Hospital positions

NewYork-Presbyterian described the union’s wage proposals as “unrealistic,” saying they represent a roughly 25% wage increase over the next three years. The hospital also said it is not seeking to eliminate health benefits for nurses, as the union has claimed.

“This strike is designed to create disruption, but our patients are continuing to receive the care they trust us to provide,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement.

Montefiore criticized what it called the union’s “reckless demands” and “troubling proposals.” It also objected to a union proposal it said would prevent nurses from being fired even if found to be impaired by drugs or alcohol on the job.

The union said Montefiore was “blatantly mischaracterizing” that proposal, which it said would add protections for nurses dealing with substance use disorders — a measure already adopted at other hospitals across the state.

Montefiore said it had “not canceled even one patient’s access to care” during the strike. Mount Sinai said around 20% of its regular nurses had opted to remain on duty rather than join the picket line.

Nurses on the issues

Roy Permaul, an intensive care unit nurse picketing in front of Mount Sinai, said he and his colleagues were prepared to remain on strike as long as necessary to secure a better contract.

Dania Munoz, a nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai and a 31-year-old Bronx resident, said the dispute extended beyond wages.

“We deserve fair pay, but this is about safety for our patients, for ourselves and for our profession,” Munoz said. “The things that we’re fighting for, we need. We need health care. We need safety. We need more staffing.”

As with a similar work stoppage three years ago, nurses have pointed to staffing as a central flashpoint, accusing the large-budget medical centers of refusing to commit to provisions for manageable workloads. The private, nonprofit hospitals have said they have made progress on staffing in recent years and have characterized the union’s demands as prohibitively expensive.

Patient care and operations

The city Emergency Management Department said it had not seen major impacts to patient care as of Tuesday. No ambulance diversions were reported during the day, according to Brian Conway, a spokesperson for the Greater New York Hospital Association. Ambulances had routed some patients to other hospitals on Monday, the first day of the strike.

In the days before the walkout, hospitals canceled scheduled surgeries, transferred patients from more specialized units, and increased discharges to reduce patient volumes, the association said.

The strike is unfolding during an active flu season. New York City logged more than 32,000 flu cases during the week ending December 20 — the highest single-week tally in at least 20 years, according to the city Health Department — though numbers have since declined.