On January 9th, an estimated 16,000 nurses from New York City’s private hospitals are expected to go on strike after negotiations for their new contracts fall through. The contracts are set to expire on December 31st and the nurses union announced to the management at eight New York hospitals that they intend to strike in the new year.
Negotiations for the contracts will be ongoing but were expected to wrap up at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The eight hospitals that received strike notices from the nurses union include Bronxcare, Flushing Hospital Medical Care, Maimonides, Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Richmond University Medical Center.
The New York State Nurses Association gave a 10-day notice to management for the 16,000 members ready to strike. The nurses union states that members are “upset” about staffing in the hospital as well as the healthcare benefits being worse in the new contracts. A statement from the NYSNA said, “The 10-day notices give hospitals time to plan care for patients while nurses are on strike. But the best way for management to protect patients is to listen to nurses and settle fair contracts that protect patient care in the next 10 days.”
The union mentioned Mayor Eric Adams’ new forced hospitalization for homeless populations that seem to be having a mental crisis as contributing to the strike.
Mount Sinai Hospital has previously acknowledged that negotiations are “noisy and bumpy at times” but have affirmed that they are “committed to negotiating in good faith at all times to ensure fairness and fiscal responsibility” and look forward to reaching an agreement.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office stated that they are “monitoring the situation.”
New York City hospitals were hit hard during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Over the past few years, both the city and the hospitals have been working to recover, however, the city is currently dealing with a “tridemic” with a rise in COVID-19 cases, the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) spreading amongst populations. If hospital management does not reach an agreement with the nurses union over the contracts of their workers, it could mean disaster for the city.
