Dive Brief:
- Some of the thousands of nurses planning to strike at New York hospitals Monday have reached a deal with their facilities to avert the planned open-ended strike, according to union officials.
- Nurses at three facilities: New-York Presbyterian, Maimonides and Richmond University medical centers, made tentative agreements averting strikes, while nurses at five other hospitals are still bargaining for new contracts.
- Those still planning to strike want contract terms that ensure adequate staffing and address widespread turnover and burnout driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a release from the New York State Nurses Association.
Dive Insight:
Nurses at BronxCare Health System, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Montefiore Bronx, Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Morningside and West are still slated to walk off the job Monday if they can’t reach a deal with the systems on new contracts by then.
Some 16,000 nurses initially voted to strike without a set end date, delivering official 10-day notice to the systems just before contracts expired.
On Dec. 30, 4,000 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian reached a tentative agreement with the system on new contracts, though, halting a strike there.
That deal includes raises of 7% in the first year of the contract, 6% in the second and 5% in the third, along with other terms to improve staffing, union leaders said on a call with reporters Thursday.
On Wednesday, nurses at Maimonides and Richmond University medical centers also reached deals, though details of those contracts have not yet been released.
Exact contract terms also vary by facility, union leaders said.
Montefiore Senior Vice President Joe Solmonese said in a statement the hospital proposed contract terms similar to those in the deal at New-York Presbyterian, including 18% wage increases over the course of the contract and other benefits that nurses will not accept.
Union leaders on the call pushed back and said staffing is still a priority in negotiations.
New York passed a staffing law last year requiring hospitals and nursing homes to form clinical committees tasked with setting annual staffing standards for units. NYSNA leaders on the call said implementation and enforcement is still spotty, however, and the union is now pushing for a minimum standard throughout the state.