Nurses, NY hospital system reach tentative deal to end city’s largest nursing strike
NEW YORK– New York City’s largest nurses’ strike in decades is nearing an end after more than 4,000 nurses seeking better staffing and job security at NewYork-Presbyterian reached a tentative agreement with management early Friday.
The New York State Nurses Association said union negotiators and administrators at the last of three major hospital systems affected by the strike that lasted more than a month approved a tentative agreement but did not release details.
The proposal is now put to a vote by union members. If ratified, nurses would return to work as early as next week.
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement with NYSNA, through the mediator, that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses – the settlement is still subject to ratification,” New York Presbyterian spokeswoman Angela Karafazli said in a statement.
NewYork-Presbyterian’s roughly 4,200 nurses were the last to remain on the picket line during freezing temperatures in what their union described as the largest and longest nurses’ strike in the city’s history.
“For a month and a half, despite the most severe weather this city has seen in years, New York’s nurses showed this city that they would not compromise on patient care,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans. “The victories of our private sector nurses will improve patient care, and their perseverance and endurance have shown people around the world the power of NYSNA nurses.” »
Some 10,500 nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals signed new three-year contracts on February 11. The union said the Montefiore and Mount Sinai agreements included wage increases of more than 12 percent over three years.
That deal also continued nurses’ health benefits at no extra cost and included new protections against workplace violence, particularly for transgender and immigrant nurses and patients, and introduced safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in hospitals.
Presbyterian nurses in New York rejected the proposals in the February 11 agreement.
The strike began on January 12 at three of the city’s largest and most prestigious private health systems.
Hospitals have hired legions of temporary nurses to fill staffing shortages during a demanding flu season, sparking concern among some of the hospital system’s most vulnerable patients and their families.
During heated and contentious negotiations, hospitals complained that the union’s demands were unreasonable and exorbitant. Nurses countered that top hospital executives make millions of dollars a year while saddling nurses with unmanageable workloads.
An arbitrator awarded nearly $400,000 this month to some nurses at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian for having to work while understaffed in 2023 and 2024, the union said, calling the decision evidence of the problems that motivated the strike. NewYork-Presbyterian responded that “staff safety is always a priority” and that it has hired hundreds of nurses over the past three years.
The strike did not affect all hospitals in the NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems, and nurses at municipal hospitals did not participate. Other private hospitals also reached last-minute deals with the union.
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Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz in New York and Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed.
