Striking New York City nurses resumed contract negotiations with hospital administrators Thursday, returning to the bargaining table for the first time since Sunday on the fourth day of what union officials described as the city’s largest nursing walkout in decades. The New York State Nurses Association said its bargaining members met with officials at NewYork-Presbyterian late Thursday, with additional talks planned Friday at hospitals operated by Mount Sinai and Montefiore — though the union said some facilities had not yet agreed to resume discussions.
Roughly 15,000 nurses walked off the job Monday at hospitals operated by NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, and Montefiore, seeking contract provisions on staffing levels, workplace violence protections, and health care benefits. The walkout has forced hospitals to hire thousands of temporary nurses to keep emergency rooms and other facilities running.
Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently, and not every hospital run by the three systems is affected by the strike.
Nurses cite workplace violence and staffing shortfalls
Nurses say they are seeking contract provisions addressing staffing levels, protections against workplace violence, and health care benefits.
Sheryl Ostroff, a Mount Sinai nurse, described the physical dangers she said nurses routinely face.
“I’ve been scratched in the face. I have been bitten in multiple places. I have been kicked in the ribs where it leaves bruises, spit on, pushed, punched, sexually assaulted — you name it,” she said at a union rally Thursday. “It’s not acceptable, and we want our hospitals to protect us. Why is that a hard ask?”
Simone Way, a nurse at Mount Sinai Morningside, said nurses had raised alarms about staffing for years without response from administrators.
“It is incredibly hard to deliver the level of care our patients deserve,” she said at the rally. “There are limits to what good nurses can do.”
Salary dispute divides the sides
Hospitals say the union’s pay proposals are unrealistic and unaffordable. Mount Sinai said union proposals would raise the average annual salary of its nurses from roughly $162,000 to nearly $250,000 over three years. Montefiore said its nurses’ salaries would rise to $220,000 under the union’s terms.
The union dismissed those figures as “outlandish math” but declined to provide countering salary data.
“We are committed to keep negotiating for a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our deep respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement Thursday.
Mount Sinai talks stalled; nurses fired
Mount Sinai Morningside, located near Columbia University in upper Manhattan, is among the facilities that have not yet agreed to resume talks, the union said. Nurses’ union leaders held a rally there Thursday alongside elected officials and members of other major city labor unions.
Brendan Carr, Mount Sinai’s chief executive, said in a video released Thursday that some nurses who had opted to keep working rather than join the picket line had been subjected to harassment and intimidation.
“Bullying, intimidating and threatening devalues nurses, undermines our culture, and is not consistent with our values at Mount Sinai,” he said. “You deserve better.”
The union called those accusations “baseless.” It has also filed a federal complaint against Mount Sinai for terminating three nurses on the eve of the strike.
Long Island settlement offers a precedent
On Long Island, union nurses ratified new contracts Thursday with Northwell Health, the state’s largest health system. The agreements, reached last week and averting strikes at three Long Island hospitals, called for roughly 5% raises in each year of a three-year pact, according to the union.