They ask to declare a crisis due to a lack of nurses in the US 0:44
(CNN) --
More than 7,000 nurses at two large hospitals in New York City suspended work Monday and came out in protest, saying immense staff shortages have caused widespread burnout and hampered their ability to adequately care for their patients. patients.
Nurses say they work long hours in unsafe conditions without sufficient pay, situations that have sparked other nurse strikes across the country over the past year.
The union representing health professionals said an offer of 19% wage increases is not enough to solve the staff shortage.
This is the latest in a series of strikes in the health care sector in recent years.
Union members who were on the front lines during the three-year battle against the Covid-19 pandemic say the system can no longer function with the widespread shortages that emerged during those years.
Tentative deals had been reached in recent days covering nurses at various hospitals, including two new deals on Sunday night.
But talks with Mount Sinai hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side and three Montefiore Medical Center locations in the Bronx fell apart overnight.
“After negotiating late into the night at Montefiore and Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday, no tentative agreement was reached.
Today, more than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals are on strike for fair contracts that improve patient care," the New York State Nurses Association said in a statement Monday.
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There were hundreds of nurses and supporters at the protests outside Mount Sinai early Monday, filling two city blocks.
Protesters were even in the streets, sometimes blocking traffic.
Passing truckers honked their horns in support.
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Both hospitals said Monday morning that efforts to reach an agreement were unsuccessful.
“NYSNA leaders walked out of negotiations shortly after 1 a.m. by refusing to accept the same 19.1% wage increase agreed to by eight other hospitals, including two other Mount Sinai System sites, and without regard to the settlement. of the governor to avoid a strike," Lucia Lee, a spokeswoman for Mount Sinai, said in a statement to CNN.
Montefiore said it was "a sad day for New York City."
“Despite Montefiore's offer of a 19.1% compounded salary increase, the same offer agreed upon at wealthier peer institutions, and a commitment to create more than 170 new nursing positions... NYSNA leadership has decided to walk away from their patients' bedsides," the medical center said in a statement.
Although the union has agreed to the same raises at other hospitals, it said its main complaint at Mount Sinai and Montefiore is that nurses were overworked and prone to burnout.
“We need management to come to the table and provide better staffing,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The union insists it is on strike in an effort to improve patient care.
“Going to the hospital to get the care you need is NOT crossing our strike line.
Patients should seek hospital care immediately if they need it,” he says in the statement.
“We would rather be the ones providing that care, but our bosses have pushed us to be here instead.”
According to Hagans, Montefiore has 760 nursing openings, adding that "too often, a nurse in the emergency department is responsible for 20 patients instead of the standard three patients."
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On Sunday night, New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged management and the union to agree to binding arbitration as a way to avoid the strike.
Although the management of the two hospitals accepted the idea, the union did not.
“We will not give up in our fight to ensure our patients have enough nurses at their bedside,” the union said in response to Hochul's suggestion for arbitration.
New York Mayor Eric Adams encouraged all parties on Sunday night to "remain at the negotiating table for as long as it takes to reach a voluntary agreement."
Contingency plans during the nurses' strike
Hospitals have been preparing for a strike since the nurses' union gave notice of its plans 10 days ago.
Affected hospitals plan to pay temporary "traveling" nurses to fill in where possible and some had already begun transferring patients.
A Mount Sinai spokesman said Monday that he has brought in "hundreds" of roving nurses and that some non-nursing staff from hospitals have been redeployed.
There are 3,600 nurses in the Mount Sinai union.
Montefiore sent a staff notice, obtained by CNN, telling nurses how to quit the union and stay on the job if they wanted to continue caring for their patients.
Mount Sinai, which operates two hospitals that reached agreements Sunday night in addition to the one still facing a strike, began transferring babies to the neonatal intensive care unit late last week.
Hospitals facing the possibility of strikes had already taken steps to postpone some elective procedures.
The union says that hospitals will spend more to hire temporary nurses at a significantly higher cost.
He argues that hospitals should agree to their demands to hire more staff and give the raises the union is seeking.
“As nurses, our number one concern is patient safety,” Hagans said in a statement Friday.
“However, the nurses…have been forced to work understaffed, on the edge, sometimes with one nurse in the ED responsible for 20 patients.
That is not safe for the nurses or for our patients.”
A contentious negotiation
Hospitals say they are doing what they can to hire more nursing staff.
“Mount Sinai is appalled by NYSNA's reckless actions,” Mount Sinai said in a statement Friday.
“The union is jeopardizing patient care and forcing the valued nurses at Mount Sinai to choose between their dedication to patient care and their own livelihood.”
Nurses at first hospital to reach tentative agreement: New York-Presbyterian ratified that agreement in a result announced by the union on Saturday.
It was a close decision with 57% of nurses voting in favor and 43% against.
Tentative agreements reached in recent days still need to be ratified by rank and file union members before they can take effect.
Strikes have become more common across the country as tight labor markets and discontent with working conditions have led unionized employees to flex their muscles more often at the bargaining table.
There were 385 strikes in 2022, up 42% from the 270 in 2021, according to Cornell University's School of Labor and Industrial Relations.
The US Department of Labor, which tracks only major strikes of 1,000 or more workers, recorded 20 strikes in the first 11 months of 2022, up 33% from the same period in 2021.
Numerous nursing strikes were among the recorded work stoppages, with many unions citing cases of burnout and health problems among members.
Four of the 20 strikes reported by the Labor Department last year involved nurses' unions.
The largest was a three-day walkout by the 15,000-member Minnesota Nurses Association that involved 13 hospitals in the state.
— CNN's Tina Burnside, Artemis Moshtaghian and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.
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