Majority of striking New York nurses announce tentative deal with hospitals

By Maria Tsvetkova

NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Two-thirds of nurses who walked out of major hospitals in New York City a month ago have reached preliminary agreements with their employers and may end the strike this week, the union representing 15,000 striking nurses said on Monday.

The strike at three healthcare networks –  Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian – led to staffing shortages and a state of emergency declared by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to allow out-of-state and foreign staff to cover for striking nurses.

The state of emergency, which took effect on January 9, was set to expire on Sunday, but Hochul extended it until the end of Tuesday.

More than two-thirds, or 10,500 out of 15,000 striking nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals are expected to vote on their new contracts from Wednesday to Friday. If the deal is ratified they would return to work on Saturday, New York State Nurses Association, the union that represents nurses, said on Monday.

As of Monday afternoon, NewYork-Presbyterian and its 4,200 striking nurses had not reached a tentative agreement, according to the union.

A Montefiore spokesperson confirmed the tentative agreement but, noting it had yet to be ratified, would not say more.

Brendan Carr, CEO of Mount Sinai Health System, said he expected the nurses to vote on Wednesday and, if they approve the tentative agreement, Mount Sinai will start the transition to regular staffing. 

“While it has been amazing to once again see Mount Sinai do extraordinary things in order to serve our patients and community, it will take time to rebuild the momentum that we had in the alignment of our organization,” he said in an emailed statement.

NewYork-Presbyterian said it had agreed to a comprehensive proposal presented to all parties early on Sunday.

“NewYork-Presbyterian accepted the proposal which includes the same wage increases for all three hospitals, as well as preserves the pension, maintains our nurses’ health benefits, and includes increased staffing levels,” the hospital said in an email.

NYSNA said preliminary agreements with Mount Sinai and Montefiore were “a victory” and included a 12% increase in salaries over the life of the three-year contract, maintaining health benefits for nurses, measures against workplace violence and protections for immigrant and trans patients and nurses.

The progress toward ending the strike in New York City comes as 31,000 nurses at non-profit healthcare system Kaiser Permanente continue to strike in California and Hawaii. As that strike entered the third week on Monday, 3,000 lab and pharmacy workers joined the nurses, according to the unions representing them. 

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, editing by Donna Bryson, Aurora Ellis and Shri Navaratnam)