A multi-day nursing strike that disrupted patient care at two of New York City's largest hospitals ended Thursday, with hospitals officials saying tentative agreements have been reached with the nurses' union.
Roughly 7,100 nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and The Mount Sinai Hospital went on strike Monday after negotiations with the New York State Nursing Association failed prior to a 6 a.m. deadline.
While negotiations continued between the union and hospitals throughout the week, the strike spanned across three days before agreements were reached early Thursday morning.
Montefiore Medical Center released a statement around 3 a.m. saying the new contract will include a 19% wage increase and more than 170 new nursing positions.
"We came to these bargaining sessions with great respect for our nurses and with proposals that reflect their priorities in terms of wages, benefits, safety, and staffing," said Philip O. Ozuah, president and CEO of Montefiore Medicine.
"We are pleased to offer a 19% wage increase, benefits that match or exceed those of our peer institutions, more than 170 new nursing positions and a generous plan to address recruitment and retention."
Mount Sinai Health Systems did not announce the specifics of its agreement, but said it was similar to ones made at eight other city hospitals.
"We are pleased that The Mount Sinai Hospital reached a tentative agreement with NYSNA, and the strike is over. Our proposed agreement is similar to those between NYSNA and eight other New York City hospitals. It is fair and responsible, and it puts patients first," a spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement that the agreement did include “wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios,” which will take effect immediately.
“This is a historic victory for New York City nurses and for nurses across the country. NYSNA nurses have done the impossible, saving lives night and day, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and now we’ve again shown that nothing is impossible for nurse heroes,” she said.
“Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai where nurses went on strike for patient care. Today, we can return to work with our heads held high, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”
Francis Cartwright, the chief nursing officer with Mount Sinai, joined “Mornings On 1” Thursday, saying she was “so pleased” that the union and hospital could reach a resolution.
Cartwright said Mount Sinai is making a commitment to retaining nurses to ensure safe staffing levels are always met.
“Our work post-pandemic, because this is a national workforce crisis, is to retain our nurses,” Cartwright said. “They call it ‘The Big Retirement.’ We've had so many nurses that are retired or they returned home to the community, many became travelers or decided to leave the profession. So our work now and so many items that we have in our tentative agreement will help us more to collaborate with the NYSNA team, as well as our nurses.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared at Mount Sinai Hospital just before 7 a.m. Thursday to commend the hospitals and NYSNA for coming to a resolution, noting her teams were working closely with both the entire time.
“We were in constant communication with the nurses and the administration – coming to a resolution to get thousands of nurses back on the job where they want to be, but in a way that's going to be safer for our patients,” she said. “With new staffing ratios, it's going to be a better environment for them, because our nurses – even before the pandemic, but my God during that pandemic – they suffered. They worked so hard. They saw such death and devastation – and they just kept showing up.”
“And now as we enter the three-year contract, they’ll receive a well-deserved 19% pay increase here. Also better benefits, higher wages for those with higher education and again, a working environment that allows them to focus on patient care,” she added.
Hochul also took a moment to thank the Department of Health teams who were embedded in the hospitals amid the strike, ensuring there was no lapse in patient care, and vowed to “dramatically” increase the state’s health care workface, “so our hospitals can hire who they want to hire and our nurses can have more support, reinforcements on the floor.”
Prior to the union-set deadline, several of the city's largest private hospitals reached an agreement with the nurses' union, including Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai Morningside, NewYork-Presbyterian, Maimonides Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center.
Leadership with the nurses' union said they were forced to walk away from negotiations with Montefiore and the Mount Sinai Hospital because of disagreements on safe staffing levels.
According to data from the state's Department of Health, Montefiore has the largest hospital bed capacity out of the two hospitals with staff on strike, with roughly 1,560 beds in the Bronx as of Jan. 5.
NYSNA represents more than 42,000 members across the state, according to the union.
Mount Sinai had released its contingency plan last week, noting that it would begin diverting a majority of ambulances from their facilities, cancel some elective surgeries and transfer patients - including babies in the neonatal intensive care unit - to other hospital systems amid a potential strike.
In recent days, both city and state officials said they were working with the affected hospitals to ensure contingency plans were in place and staffing levels were maintained.
Hochul chimed in Sunday, calling for “binding arbitration” to bring the hospitals and the union back to the table. And the state Senate health committee chair, Bronx lawmaker Gustavo Rivera, as well as New York State AFL-CIO president expressed their solidarity with the nurses on Monday.
In a statement early Monday, NYSNA urged New Yorkers not to avoid seeking care as the strike continued.