New York City Nurses Fight to Protect Patient Care

Three years ago this January, 7,000 members of NYSNA held a historic three-day strike and won what previously seemed impossible: enforceable safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios at two of New York City’s largest hospital networks, Mount Sinai and Montefiore. Nurses also won historic pay increases and improved safe-staffing standards at hospitals across New York City.

Now, 20,000 nurses at 12 New York City private-sector hospitals are back at the bargaining table once again mobilizing for safe patient care.

Nurses Have Not Forgotten

Hospital executives may have forgotten, but nurses haven’t: We know that when we stand together and fight for our patients, there’s nothing we can’t win.

NYSNA members are calling on New York City’s wealthiest hospitals to do their part to protect vulnerable patients and the safety-net facilities that will bear the brunt of Trump’s looming healthcare cuts. But instead of listening to frontline caregivers, wealthy private hospitals are using Trump’s cuts as an excuse to roll back the safe staffing victories that nurses won when we flexed our power three years ago.

While nurses fight to save healthcare for our patients and their communities, New York City’s private hospitals have cut frontline staff and services and invested in outrageous executive pay and untested artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

CEOs at three of New York City’s wealthiest hospitals — Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian — now make, on average, nearly 12,000% more than the registered nurses who are on the front lines caring for patients. And Mount Sinai recently shelled out a whopping $100 million on just one AI facility. The bottom line: New York City’s private hospitals can afford to put patients first.  

Nurses Escalate Campaign to Protect Patient Care

With union contracts expiring on Dec. 31, nurses are turning up the pressure to demand that hospitals prioritize patients over profits.

From Brooklyn to the Bronx, hundreds of nurses at New York City private hospitals held two solid weeks of action with rallies and speak-outs in October and November. Dozens of community allies and elected leaders joined nurses.

On Nov. 18, the New York City Council held an oversight hearing on the state of nursing. Over 200 nurses and allies packed the steps of City Hall for a press conference and rally ahead of the hearing, where dozens of NYSNA nurses testified to sound the alarm on the current conditions at New York City’s private hospitals.

Nurses urged lawmakers to support their demand that New York City private sector hospitals invest in safe patient care rather than executive pay and risky speculation on AI. More than 20 nurses testified about the need to enforce safe staffing, defend our patients’ access to care, protect nurses and patients from workplace violence, create safeguards on AI, and negotiate fair wages and benefits to recruit and retain nurses.

Whatever It Takes

After months of bargaining, hospital management is still refusing to settle fair union contracts that protect nurses and patients. In fact, management has been dragging its feet, and several hospitals have refused to put forward serious economic proposals. Hospitals have refused to guarantee our health benefits, have proposed to cut corners on safe staffing and weaken enforcement, and have retaliated against nurses speaking out for safer conditions.

NYSNA nurses are fed up. That’s why, across New York City, NYSNA nurses authorized a strike, with 97% voting yes, to send a clear message to management that they won’t back down until they win the fair contracts that nurses and patients deserve.

Now, as the three-year anniversary of the historic New York City strike approaches, NYSNA nurses at all 12 hospitals are ready to strike to protect patient care.

As of publication, all eight safety-net hospitals have made major progress in securing health benefits, staffing improvements, workplace violence protections, and our other bargaining priorities. However, none of the nurses who work at New York City’s richest hospitals have secured tentative agreements on new contracts as the strike deadline looms. Striking is always a last resort, but nurses are demonstrating they are ready to do whatever it takes to protect patient and nurse safety.