© REUTERS / Eduardo Munoz / Brendan McDermid
(New York, NY) – As of 6:00 AM on Monday, January 12, around 15,000 nurses from the New York State Nurses Association had gone on strike. This impacts three major private hospital systems: Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Mount Sinai, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
The union is pushing for typical things: higher pay, better benefits, and increased staffing. Officials also want better protections against workplace violence. Some nurses have said they feel disrespected by the ongoing contract battle, as opposed to the period during COVID when so many people cheered and applauded them. But a report from the New York Post says there are serious allegations concerning bad behavior from nurses.
Montefiore hospital says NYSNA leadership is demanding that nurses not be terminated if they are found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while on duty. The hospital’s officials allege the union is putting “self-interest before patient safety.”
Both sides have accused each other of being greedy rather than prioritizing patient care. NYSNA Nancy Hagans says hospital executives are greedy and prefer to spend billions fighting nurses rather than settle a fair contract. She emphasized nurses do not want to strike but were forced into it. Hagans did not offer a comment on the issue surrounding nurses being intoxicated and what disciplinary action should be taken if that was proven true.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined striking nurses on the picket line Monday. He stood alongside them at New York-Presbyterian in Washington Heights. All three hospital systems say they’ve hired a large number of contract nurses in order to maintain normal operations throughout the strike.
It’s believed the strike could last weeks. There’s been little sign of potential compromise to date. But NYSNA officials have urged presidents to seek care at hospitals as needed, noting that “does not count” as crossing the picket line.
If there are any intoxicated nurses in NYSNA’s ranks, they could check out Block Hill Station in Brooklyn. The bar posted on Instagram that it’s offering buy-one-get-one-free beers to “help strikers fighting for patient safety and fair staff benefits.”
