(NEW YORK CITY) – Today (January 9th) New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)-represented Nurses held an emergency solidarity action at the League of Voluntary Hospitals to demand Hospital Executives from the City’s wealthiest Hospitals agree to protect patient and nurse safety.

While Safety-Net Hospitals have protected Nurses’ health benefits, agreed to workplace safety protections and improved safe staffing ratios and enforcement mechanisms in tentative agreements, New York City’s wealthiest Hospitals have made little progress at the bargaining table, NYSNA Representatives said.

If the wealthiest Hospitals do not follow the lead of Safety-Net Hospitals and negotiate fair contracts, NYSNA Nurses are ready to go on the largest Strike in New York City History on Monday (January 12th).  

Since nurses delivered Strike Notices on January 2nd, Nurses at Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, One Brooklyn Health Interfaith Medical Center and One Brooklyn Health Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center have reached tentative agreements - and Nurses at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center and The Brooklyn Hospital Center have rescinded Strike Notices.

Management at these Safety Net Hospitals agreed to improve safe staffing, fully fund health benefits for Nurses, protect Nurses from workplace violence, and guarantee wage increases equitable with what Nurses at the wealthy Academic Hospitals win, Union Officials said.

Negotiations at other New York City Private Sector Hospitals - including BronxCare, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Montefiore, and NewYork-Presbyterian, continue.

Key sticking points in negotiations include management’s threats to cut health care benefits for the Front-Line Nurses who care for New York City, management’s attempt to roll back safe staffing standards that Nurses won when they went on Strike at two major Hospitals three years ago, and management’s refusal to agree to protections from workplace violence - despite a recent active shooter incident at Mount Sinai Hospital and another horrific incident at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

Meanwhile, 45 Labor Unions - representing more than 2.5 million Workers, released a letter calling on the remaining Hospitals to settle fair contracts ahead of the January 12th Strike deadline.

Hundreds of Elected Officials and Community-Based Organizations previously sent NYSNA Nurses letters of solidarity and urged Hospital Executives to settle fair contracts to protect the health and safety of New York’s Communities.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: NYSNA Nurses Take Action to Demand Hospitals Protect Health Benefits and Safe Staffing | New York State Nurses Association