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New York City Nurses Reach Tentative Agreement, Ending Six-Week Strike
New York City, NY – After six weeks of persistent picketing, nurses and hospitals in New York City have reached a tentative agreement, signaling the potential end to a significant nurses’ strike. The final holdout, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, has now secured a deal with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), following similar agreements made by other hospitals earlier.
Approximately 15,000 nurses from various New York City hospitals, including Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Einstein, and New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, initiated the strike on January 12. While other institutions progressively reached agreements with the union, the 4,000 nurses at New York-Presbyterian stood firm, seeking more favorable terms.
The nurses’ core demands centered on crucial issues such as higher compensation, improved staffing levels to ensure patient safety, and enhanced security measures to combat workplace violence.
The proposed three-year agreement addresses these concerns comprehensively. It includes enforceable staffing standards, provisions to protect health benefits, strategies to tackle workplace violence, safeguards for immigrant patients and nurses, and limitations on the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. Furthermore, the union reports that the deal incorporates salary increases exceeding 12% over the three-year period.
Beth Loudin, a nurse and local union leader who headed the bargaining committee at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. “This has been a long, hard fight, but we are proud of what we achieved,” Loudin stated. “With the strength of our nurses and the support of our community and allies, we showed the hospital that nurses will not compromise on our patients’ care.”
Angela Karafazli, a spokesperson for New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, confirmed the tentative settlement, stating, “We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement with NYSNA, through the mediator, that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses.”
The nurses are expected to vote on whether to ratify the agreement as early as today, having previously rejected an earlier proposal.
Nancy Hagans, the president of NYSNA, commended the resilience of the striking nurses. “For a month and a half, through some of the harshest weather this city has seen in years, nurses at NYP showed this city that they won’t make any compromises to patient care,” Hagans remarked. “They stood in the cold, snow, ice and wind, along with their union siblings, fighting back management’s attempts to cut corners on care and secured contracts that improve enforceable safe staffing ratios, improve protections from workplace violence and maintain health benefits with no additional out-of-pocket costs for frontline nurses.”
Throughout the strike, hospitals maintained emergency patient care by utilizing temporary nurses. However, elective procedures were canceled, and some patients were transferred to other facilities.