Negotiations between a large New York nursing union and two major New York City hospitals fell through on Jan. 9 as more than 7,000 nurses went on strike.
A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai told media outlets that negotiations failed at roughly 1 a.m. EST on Jan. 9 after the union rejected a 19.1 percent increase in wages that the hospital system had proposed.
“NYSNA leadership walked out of negotiations shortly after 1 a.m. ET, refusing to accept the exact same 19.1% increased wage offer agreed to by eight other hospitals, including two other Mount Sinai Health System campuses, and disregarding the governor’s solution to avoid a strike,” Lucia Lee, a spokeswoman for Mount Sinai, told CNN.
And Montefiore told media outlets that it was “a sad day for New York City,” stating that the offer of 19.1 percent was the same that was offered by other institutions.
“NYSNA’s leadership has decided to walk away from the bedsides of their patients,” the statement reads.
Mount Sinai’s chief nursing officer, Frances Cartwright, was more critical of the strike, arguing that “vulnerable patients” and “defenseless little babies” are being harmed.
Cartwright was referring to an internal memo and reports that newborn infants would have to be transferred to other facilities during the strike owing to a lack of staff. According to local media outlets, a memo also states that two Mount Sinai hospitals will only perform emergency surgeries, and those facilities will start to transfer and discharge “as many patients as appropriate.”
Matt Allen, the nursing union’s regional director, responded to the reports that neonatal babies are being transferred to other facilities. He claimed that “we’ve been sounding the alarm about how that’s not safe for our NICU patients, but Mount Sinai has failed to address this crisis.”
“It’s unconscionable that Mount Sinai refuses to address unsafe staffing in our NICU and other units of the hospital but is now stirring fears about our NICU babies in contract negotiations,” he said.
“While New York City is prepared for a potential strike, we are hopeful that all parties keep working to reach a voluntary agreement,” Adams said on Jan. 8.
Hochul recently told reporters, “My full expectation is that this will be resolved because there is no alternative. We need to make sure that people in New York are taken care of.”
A spokesperson for Adams’s administration said the fire department has plans to reroute ambulances, while NYC Health + Hospitals will implement an emergency plan to deal with patients amid the staffing shortfall.
“We recognize the effect that a nurse strike would have on health care in our city and we are actively planning for different scenarios to minimize any impact to New Yorkers and ensure that the people of our city continue to receive care,” the city hall spokesperson previously said in a statement to Politico. “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.”
