Negotiations continue across multiple hospitals in New York City as the deadline for a nursing strike approaches on Monday.
The potential walkout of 10,000 nurses across five hospitals would take place Monday at 6 a.m., according to the union. The union set an 11:59 p.m. Sunday deadline for deals to be reached, but also said it can bargain up until 5:59 a.m. Monday.
Tentative agreements have been reached at some of the hospitals, including NewYork-Presbyterian, Maimonides Medical Center and Richmond University Medical Center, according to the New York State Nurses Association.
Those tentative deals include provisions that would improve staffing standards, put an enforcement mechanism in place and would bring salary increases of 7%, 6% and 5% over three years, according to Hagans.
On Friday night, another hospital — Flushing Hospital Medical Center — said they reached a settlement with the union.
The agreement also includes improvements on staffing standards, improved staffing arbitration and enforcement, a three-year contract with 7%, 6% and 5% raises over each successive year, and preserved healthcare and pension benefits, the union said in a statement. The union said approximately 470 nurses work at the Flushing hospital system.
“At Flushing, we are proud to join our NYSNA siblings at the other NYC private sector hospitals who have won great tentative agreements. We are one union united to win, and our bargaining committee is recommending a yes vote for this new contract," NYSNA director-at-large Michelle Jones said in the statement. "Tonight, more progress was made toward winning fair contracts for nurses and patients."
Ratification votes are scheduled at NewYork-Presbyterian on Saturday, and at Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center on Monday, according to a release. The union plans to address the press on the status of the negotiations and tenative agreements on Saturday morning.
According to the union, Mount Sinai management walked out of negotiations at midnight Thursday and canceled the following bargaining session.
“We are calling on Mount Sinai to come back to the table and negotiate with the nurses because the nurses are not calling for the strike, the bosses are calling for it,” Nancy Hagans, president of NYSNA, said at a briefing on Friday.
Hagans said safe staffing standards are routinely violated and that nurses face pushback from management when attempting to enforce the current contract.
An official at Mount Sinai said the latest deal put forward by Mount Sinai is the same deal agreed to by the union with NewYork-Presbyterian.
“Mount Sinai is dismayed by NYSNA’s reckless actions,” a Mount Sinai spokesperson said in a statement Friday. “The union is jeopardizing patients’ care, and it’s forcing valued Mount Sinai nurses to choose between their dedication to patient care and their own livelihoods.”
Mount Sinai offered nurses a 19.1% wage increase compounded over three years, according to the statement. The increases would be 7%, 6% and 5% over the course of the three-year contract.
On Thursday, Mount Sinai released contingency plans should a strike commence on Monday. The plan includes the diversion of a majority of ambulances from their facilities and the cancellation of some elective surgeries.
Thirteen NICU infants were expected to be transferred Friday afternoon from Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West to three hospitals in the city not within the Mount Sinai system in anticipation of the potential strike.
In addition to Mount Sinai Hospital, other hospitals continuing negotiations are Montefiore, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, and BronxCare.
Mount Sinai Hospital is hoping to return to negotiations over the weekend, according to an official.
A City Hall spokesperson said the mayor's administration is closely monitoring the negotiations and preparing for a potential strike.
"FDNY has contingency plans in place to reroute ambulances and NYC Health + Hospitals has emergency strategies to handle a surge in patients," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We encourage all of the parties to remain at the bargaining table for however long it takes and work toward reaching a voluntary agreement. Our system will be prepared, in the event of a strike, to meet the challenges."