Striking NYC nurses approve new contracts at 2 of 3 hospital systems

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Nurses on strike in New York approved new contract deals at two major hospital systems, but rejected the mediator-backed proposal at a third, leaving the monthlong walkout continuing at some of the city’s largest medical centers, the New York State Nurses Association said Wednesday.

The union said its members at Montefiore and Mount Sinai ratified three-year agreements, while nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian voted down the proposal that had been offered through mediation.

The split vote means only part of the striking workforce is expected to return to work in the coming days. The union said the nurses returning represent about 10,500 of the roughly 15,000 nurses who walked off the job Jan. 12, which the union said was the largest and longest strike of its kind in city history.

Nancy Hagans, the union’s president, said the ratification marked what she called a “hard-earned victory.” In a statement, she said: “This hard-earned victory shows hospitals that they can’t cut corners on patient care.” She added, “Now it’s time for NewYork-Presbyterian to do the right thing, agree to a fair contract and bring all our nurses back to work.”

At Mount Sinai, CEO Brendan Carr said the hospital is urging staff to come together and prepare for a return to work that begins Saturday. In a letter to staff, Carr said: “The past several weeks have been challenging, emotional, frustrating, and exhausting in different ways for all of us,” and he added, “I want to remind us all that health care is built on compassion, and that compassion must extend not only to our patients, but also to one another.”

NewYork-Presbyterian said it was disappointed its nurses did not ratify the proposal. In a statement, the hospital said the mediator-backed deal was one it believed would have provided “similar benefits and protections as those approved” by nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai, and it said it would continue determining next steps as more than 4,200 NewYork-Presbyterian nurses remain on strike, according to the union.

The union’s report said the ratified deals approved by nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore include pay raises of more than 12% over three years. The union said the contracts also maintain nurses’ health benefits with no additional out-of-pocket costs and add new protections against workplace violence, including specific protections for transgender and immigrant nurses and patients. The union also said the pacts include new safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in hospitals for the first time.

Both sides pointed to staffing and safety as central issues in the contract talks. The union said nurses complained that patient loads were unmanageable and that they sought additional security measures, including after two recent violent incidents. The hospital systems have said operations at affected locations were largely uninterrupted during the strike, saying organ transplants, cardiac surgeries and other complex procedures continued, even as they brought in thousands of temporary nurses to fill staffing gaps and, during the days leading up to the work stoppage, canceled some scheduled surgeries, transferred some patients and discharged others.

A spokesperson for Montefiore did not immediately comment.