Nurses from New York City hospitals set to strike as contract negotiations fail - CNN

New York CNN  — 

A walk-out by much than 7,000 nurses astatine 2 large New York City hospitals is acceptable to statesman astatine 6 a.m. ET Monday aft talks aimed astatine averting a onslaught broke down overnight.

Tentative deals had been reached successful caller days covering nurses astatine respective hospitals, including 2 caller agreements precocious Sunday evening. But talks with Mount Sinai infirmary successful Manhattan and Montefiore successful the Bronx failed overnight.

“After bargaining precocious into the nighttime astatine Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, nary tentative agreements were reached. Today, much than 7,000 nurses astatine 2 hospitals are connected onslaught for just contracts that amended diligent care,” the New York State Nurses Association said successful a Monday statement.

Both hospitals said earlier connected Monday greeting that efforts to scope an statement were unsuccessful.

“NYSNA enactment walked retired of negotiations soon aft 1 a.m. ET, refusing to judge the nonstop aforesaid 19.1% accrued wage connection agreed to by 8 different hospitals, including 2 different Mount Sinai Health System campuses, and disregarding the Governor’s solution to debar a strike,” Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai, said successful a connection to CNN.

Montefiore said it was “a bittersweet time for New York City.”

“Despite Montefiore’s connection of a 19.1% compounded wage summation — the aforesaid connection agreed to astatine the wealthiest of our adjacent institutions — and a committedness to make implicit 170 caller nursing positions … NYSNA’s enactment has decided to locomotion distant from the bedsides of their patients,” the aesculapian halfway said successful a statement.

The tentative deals reached astatine different hospitals supply nurses with a combined 19.1% successful wage increases implicit the three-year beingness of the agreements and includes promises by absorption to summation staffing to code the union’s large ailment of nurses being overworked and facing burnout.

Mount Sinai and Montefiore said they had agreed to conscionable the wage demands of the union, but the national claimed that staffing levels stay the sticking constituent successful reaching deals astatine the 2 remaining hospitals.

“We request absorption to travel to the array and supply amended staffing,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said successful a property telephone Sunday afternoon.

According to Hagans, Montefiore has 760 nursing vacancies, adding that “too often 1 caregiver successful the exigency section is liable for 20 patients alternatively of the modular of 3 patients.”

On Sunday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had urged the absorption and the national to hold to binding arbitration arsenic a mode of avoiding the strike. Although the absorption of the 2 hospitals embraced the idea, the national did not.

“We volition not springiness up connected our combat to guarantee that our patients person capable nurses astatine the bedside,” the national said successful effect to Hochul’s arbitration suggestion.

New York Mayor Eric Adams had encouraged each parties connected Sunday nighttime to “remain astatine the bargaining array for nevertheless agelong it takes to scope a voluntary agreement.”

The hospitals person been preparing for a onslaught since the nurses national gave announcement of its plans 10 days ago. The affected hospitals program connected paying impermanent “traveling” nurses to capable successful wherever imaginable and immoderate had already begun transferring patients.

Montefiore released a announcement to staff, obtained by CNN, telling nurses however to discontinue the national and enactment connected the occupation if they wanted to proceed to attraction for their patients.

Mount Sinai, which operates 2 hospitals that reached deals Sunday evening successful summation to the 1 inactive facing a strike, started transferring infants successful the neonatal intensive attraction portion astatine the extremity of this past week. Hospitals facing the anticipation of strikes had already taken steps to postpone immoderate elective procedures.

The national says the hospitals volition beryllium spending much connected hiring impermanent nurses astatine a importantly greater cost. It argues the hospitals should hold to their demands to prosecute much unit and assistance the raises the national is seeking.

“As nurses, our apical interest is diligent safety,” Hagans said successful a connection Friday. “Yet nurses … person been forced to enactment without capable staff, stretched to our breaking point, sometimes with 1 caregiver successful the Emergency Department liable for 20 patients. That’s not harmless for nurses oregon our patients.”

The hospitals accidental they are doing what they tin to prosecute much nursing staff.

“Mount Sinai is dismayed by NYSNA’s reckless actions,” Mount Sinai said successful a connection Friday. “The national is jeopardizing patients’ care, and it’s forcing valued Mount Sinai nurses to take betwixt their dedication to diligent attraction and their ain livelihoods.”

Nurses astatine the archetypal infirmary to scope a tentative deal, New York-Presbyterian, voted connected Saturday. It was a adjacent telephone with 57% of nurses voting yes and 43% against. The tentative deals reached implicit the past fewer days inactive request to beryllium ratified by rank-and-file national members earlier they tin instrumentality effect.

Strikes person go much communal nationwide, arsenic choky labour markets and unhappiness with enactment conditions person prompted unionized employees to flex their muscles much often astatine the bargaining table.

There were 385 strikes successful 2022, up 42% from 270 successful 2021, according to the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The US Labor Department, which tracks lone large strikes by 1,000 oregon much workers, recorded 20 strikes successful the archetypal 11 months of 2022, up 33% from the aforesaid play successful 2021.

Numerous nursing strikes were among the recorded enactment stoppages, with galore unions citing instances of burnout and wellness problems among members.

Four retired of the 20 strikes reported by the Labor Department past twelvemonth progressive nurses unions. The largest was a three-day strike by the 15,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association involving 13 hospitals successful the state.

— CNN’s Tina Burnside, Artemis Moshtaghian and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.