Around 7,000 hospital nurses in New York City held a three-day strike that led to hospitals conceding to their demands for higher pay and improved staffing. Winning such a victory when staff shortages are widely reported could result in other hospitals following suit, as nurses demand fair treatment, full staffing, and equitable compensation after three years of fighting a pandemic.
The New York State Nursing Association (NYNA) walked out of Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals, then claimed a big victory at the bargaining table on a tentative contract that would give them a 19% pay hike over three years at both facilities.
But the big issue was nurse staffing, which the nurses smartly tied to patient safety. One study of the so-called “missing nurse” phenomenon noted 7,679 nurses and those working while understaffed missed a “significant amount of necessary care, ranging between 10-27%.”1
The hospitals agreed to hire 170 new nurses each and beef up recruitment and retention policies.
“For the first time in their union contracts at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, nurses have won enforceable nurse-to-patient staffing ratios with expedited arbitration and potential financial penalties that lessen the financial incentive for hospitals to understaff,” the NYSNA announced.
The successful strike follows similar victories in seven other NYC hospitals. Employees campaigned to win “better staffing standards and enforcement, protected healthcare benefits, and increased annual salaries by 7%, 6%, and 5% over the three-year contract period,” the NYSNA said.
Montefiore Medical Center issued the following statement after the settlement: “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.”2
Hospital Employee Health received this statement from NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN: “For too long, too many hospitals have put their bottom lines above patient care, operating without enough nurses at the bedside and creating a crisis of understaffing by penny-pinching,” Hagans said. “When there aren’t enough nurses at the bedside, patients suffer, and nurses are pushed to our breaking point. … This victory sets a precedent for nurses across the country to improve patient care through collective bargaining and winning concrete, enforceable staffing ratios in union contracts until every state in the country has safe nurse-to-patient ratio laws.”
REFERENCES
- Hessels AJ, Flynn L, Cimiotti JP, et al. The impact of the nursing practice environment on missed nursing care. Clin Nurs Stud 2015;3:60-65.
- Montefiore Health System. Montefiore Medical Center reaches tentative agreement with New York State Nurses Association. Jan. 12, 2023.
Around 7,000 hospital nurses in New York City held a three-day strike that led to hospitals conceding to their demands for higher pay and improved staffing. Winning such a victory when staff shortages are widely reported could result in other hospitals following suit, as nurses demand fair treatment, full staffing, and equitable compensation after three years of fighting a pandemic.
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