Thousands of nurses go on strike in New York City

Almost 15,000 nurses walked disconnected the occupation successful New York City, demanding amended moving conditions, marking the largest nurses’ onslaught successful the city’s past arsenic declaration negotiations failed to summation traction.

Workers walked disconnected the occupation aboriginal connected Monday greeting crossed 3 backstage infirmary systems successful the largest metropolis successful the US, Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian.

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“After months of bargaining, absorption refused to marque meaningful advancement connected halfway issues that nurses person been warring for: harmless staffing for patients, healthcare benefits for nurses, and workplace unit protections,” the New York State Nursing Association said successful a connection connected Monday.

“Management astatine the richest hospitals successful New York City are threatening to discontinue oregon radically chopped nurses’ wellness benefits,” the nursing radical added.

NewYork-Presbyterian reported a nett income of $547m successful 2024. Mount Sinai reported $114m, portion Montefiore reported $288.62m, according to ProPublica’s nonprofit tracker, which monitors the finances of nonprofit organisations, which these 3 hospitals are.

Striking nurses assertion infirmary absorption has threatened to chopped healthcare benefits. The national alleges that hospitals are attempting to rotation backmost harmless staffing standards. Al Jazeera was incapable to independently verify the validity of these claims.

In 2021, New York authorities signed into instrumentality a request that hospitals found committees astatine each installation to outline staffing plans by division, including a minimum one-to-two nurse-to-patient ratio successful captious attraction units, arsenic strains connected the healthcare strategy became amplified during the aboriginal months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You can’t divorcement this from the acquisition of COVID successful New York. COVID tested our healthcare strategy and tested nurses successful particular. They past went connected onslaught successful 2023 and proceed to look chronic understaffing, leaving them feeling overextended,” Lindsey Boylan, a assemblage activistic astatine the picket enactment connected Monday morning, told Al Jazeera.

In 2023, aft a three-day strike, nurses successfully pushed infirmary systems, done arbitration, to enforce those standards crossed each infirmary units.

The national alleges that hospitals are walking backmost the standards and that infirmary absorption has failed to hold to requests to fortify protections for workers amid a emergence successful workplace violence. Union representatives told Al Jazeera that the requests see installing metallic detectors astatine infirmary entrances.

The onslaught comes amid heightened concerns astir infirmary information pursuing an progressive shooter incidental astatine a Mount Sinai infirmary successful November and a fatal shooting astatine a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital successful Brooklyn past week.

Mount Sinai has besides allegedly disciplined nurses who raised concerns astir alleged union-busting, resulting successful a ailment filed with the National Labor Relations Board successful October.

Al Jazeera reached retired to NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospitals for comment.

“We’re acceptable to support negotiating a just and tenable declaration that reflects our respect for our nurses and the captious relation they play, and besides recognises the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment. We person projected important wage increases that support our nurses among the highest paid successful the city,” a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital told Al Jazeera successful a statement.

When pressed for specifics, the infirmary did not respond. The national told Al Jazeera the infirmary offered nurses $4,500 successful azygous lump-sum payments that could beryllium utilized towards healthcare benefits, staffing, oregon wages.

Representatives for Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore did not reply to requests for comment.

Unified nurses

“The information that the radical who supply healthcare request to beryllium asking for healthcare is ironic and infuriating,” Alex Bores, a authorities assembly subordinate and legislature campaigner successful New York’s 12th district, told Al Jazeera. Bores was astatine the picket enactment successful the aboriginal hours of Monday.

“The vigor was incredible. It was 6am and inactive dark, but radical were marching and chanting. Everyone was energised and acceptable for the fight. There was nary hesitation and nary fear. It was wide the nurses were unified and prepared to spell the distance,” Bores added.

The onslaught comes astatine the tallness of a terrible flu play successful New York, with hospitalisations reaching grounds highs. During the week of December 20, astir 9 percent of exigency country visits were for the flu. Rates person since begun to decline, according to metropolis wellness data.

“This [the terrible flu season] leads to an summation successful the fig of radical who request to beryllium seen successful exigency rooms and hospitals. As a result, staffing needs are really higher, making this a peculiarly hard clip to not person each healthcare professionals available,” said Bruce Y Lee, a prof of wellness argumentation and absorption astatine the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy.

For the week of January 3, the astir caller information available, flu cases fell to 5 percent of exigency section diagnoses.

Healthcare demands whitethorn springiness nurses added leverage successful negotiations.

“I deliberation there’s a batch of leverage astatine this time. New Yorkers recognize the relation nurses played during COVID and beyond, and with a precise hard flu play present nether way, we are each alert of however important nurses are, and however overextended they are,” Boylan added.

The governmental test

The onslaught poses a large governmental trial astatine some the metropolis and authorities levels. Governor Kathy Hochul is up for re-election, and pro-labour Zohran Mamdani’s caller mayoral triumph successful New York City has accrued unit connected the politician to broadside with progressives crossed the state.

“My apical precedence is protecting patients and ensuring they tin entree the attraction they need. At the aforesaid time, we indispensable scope an statement that recognises the indispensable enactment nurses bash each time connected the beforehand lines of our healthcare system,” Hochul said successful a connection connected Sunday night.

Representatives for the politician did not respond to requests for further remark aft nurses officially began striking.

The onslaught comes aboriginal successful Mamdani’s medication and marks a important governmental trial for the city’s caller mayor, who has historically been pro-labour.

“There were truthful galore people, it was flooding some sides of the street,” Boylan added.

In effect to a petition to the mayor’s bureau for comment, elder spokesperson Dora Pekec referred Al Jazeera to a post that Mamdani published connected X connected Sunday evening, up of the strike.

“No New Yorker should person to fearfulness losing entree to wellness attraction — and nary caregiver should beryllium asked to judge little pay, less benefits oregon little dignity for doing lifesaving work. Our nurses kept this metropolis live done its hardest moments. Their worth is not negotiable,” Mamdani wrote.

On Monday, the politician joined picketers extracurricular a infirmary successful Manhattan.

“This onslaught is not conscionable a question of however overmuch nurses gain per hr oregon what wellness benefits they receive, though some of those issues substance deeply. It is besides a question of who deserves to payment from this system,” Mamdani said astatine a quality conference.

The spokesperson did not respond to our petition for further comment.