Fifteen thousand nurses are striking in New York City for a second day, seeking better pay and protection from workplace violence, among other concessions.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Almost 15,000 nurses are continuing their strike in New York City. They walked off the job at three private hospital systems there. WNYC’s Caroline Lewis reports.
CAROLINE LEWIS, BYLINE: The first nurses began lining up at Mount Sinai Hospital before 6 a.m. Monday, when it was still dark outside. They bundled up against the cold with bright red union scarves around their necks…
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LEWIS: …And cheered and embraced colleagues as they got off the night shift and joined the strike. But even as nurses hyped each other up, there was a feeling of deja vu. This is the second time nurses have struck at this hospital in three years. Donovan Carey is a nurse in Mount Sinai’s ER.
DONOVAN CAREY: It sucks to be back outside having to fight for health care, having to fight to protect my patients, having to fight to be protected myself.
LEWIS: In the contracts the New York State Nurses Association negotiated with private hospitals three years ago, they won big salary boosts and commitments to improve staffing. This time around, nurses are also pushing for better security measures to protect them from workplace violence, and for safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence and ICE coming into hospitals.
But staffing, pay and benefits are still major sticking points. Nurses aren’t saying publicly how much of a pay bump they’re asking for. But hospital reps at the three major medical centers where nurses are striking have said in written comments that nurses’ demands are too costly, especially in light of the financial losses they’re expecting to come from federal health care cuts.
They say hiring temporary replacement nurses during the strike is also eating into their budgets. But the union points out nurses have managed to avoid strikes at other smaller hospitals they say were more willing to negotiate.
(CHEERING)
LEWIS: At a rally later in the day outside New York-Presbyterian, nurses swarmed around new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was endorsed by their union.
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ZORHAN MAMDANI: New Yorkers have a right to quality health care, as do the nurses who provide that care. My job as mayor is to protect both of those rights.
LEWIS: Mamdani said his administration is monitoring the strike and making sure contingency plans are in place so hospitals don’t get overwhelmed. Studies show nurses’ strikes can be dangerous and even drive up hospital mortality rates. Representatives for the affected health systems have said patient care will continue largely uninterrupted. But the head of Mount Sinai told employees in an internal memo, some patients are already being transferred and some appointments are being rescheduled.
For NPR News, I’m Caroline Lewis in New York.
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