As potential strike looms, New York nurses’ union hammers out one deal — with seven left to go

With the threat of a nurses’ strike looming at several New York City hospitals, the head of the state nurses’ union revealed Wednesday that a walkout will likely be averted at at least one of those facilities.

A tentative contract agreement has been reached with New York-Presbyterian Hospital, while negotiations are ongoing with management for at least four of the seven hospitals where terms still haven’t been met, New York State Nurses Association President Nancy Hagans told reporters at a remote press briefing.

“NYSNA urges other hospitals to follow New York-Presbyterian’s lead and negotiate in good faith for fair contracts that respect nurses and patients by delivering safe staffing and fair wages and benefits,” Hagans said. “We do not take striking lightly. Striking is always a last resort, but we are prepared to strike if our bosses give us no other option.”

The other hospitals the Nurses Association is now attempting to reach agreements with are Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center. Hagans would not say where negotiations have stalled.

Walkouts are set to begin next Monday if agreements aren’t reached.

A health care industry source who works with one of the hospitals involved in negotiations expressed confidence that agreements will be reached and a strike will be avoided despite the saber-rattling — especially in light of the tentative deal with New York-Presbyterian.

“It’s going to happen,” the source said of the pending agreements. “They’re not going to strike. They don’t have the money to go on strike.”

The source, who spoke anonymously because of the ongoing negotiations, described what’s now unfolding as “pattern bargaining” and predicted that once bigger hospitals like Mount Sinai agree to terms, the smaller hospitals will follow suit.

The formal process leading up to a potential strike began last week when the union nurses delivered 10-day strike notices to the eight hospitals. But the possibility of a walkout has been simmering for years — coming to a boil during the COVID pandemic when droves of nurses went public with their dismay over staffing conditions.

“When we worked around the clock during the height of the pandemic — knowing that no matter what we do, how we did, so many of our patients would still die — many of us went home and cried at night. ” said Hagans, a registered nurse at Maimonides. “We still went back the next day and the next day to do everything we could to save many lives.”

Staffing, Hagans noted, is still the most important concern among nurses.

“We’re looking to have safe patient-to-nurse ratios,” she said. “A nurse should not be working in medical-surgical unit and caring for 10 patients instead of five. A nurse should not be in an emergency room and caring for 27 patients instead of four patients.”

At almost all of the hospitals, the union has agreed to terms when it comes to the medical benefits nurses will receive as part of their new contracts, Hagans said. The one outlier there is Flushing, she added.

“That is on the table today,” she said.

A spokesman for Flushing Hospital declined to comment.

New York-Presbyterian spokeswoman Angela Smith Karafazli said management there is “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with NYSNA.”

“With this agreement, which is still subject to ratification by the nurses, we are making a significant investment in our outstanding nursing team and ensuring that we can continue to deliver the highest level of care to our patients,” she said.

Hagans said the Nurses Association is seeking similar contracts to the tentative deal with Presbyterian. That deal would give nurses a three-year contract. Broadly, the union is also looking for staff ratios of one nurse to two patients in intensive care units and one nurse to four patients in medical-surgical units, she said.

The union is seeking first-year wage increases of 7%, second-year raises of 6%, and a third-year bump of 5% at Presbyterian.

Richmond University Medical Center spokesman Alex Lutz said that facility has “plans for all different situations that may arise.”

“Our plans are flexible and designed to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our community safely while still providing the highest level of care to all our patients,” he said. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith toward a fair and responsible contract for our hospital.”

Marissa Coscia, a spokeswoman for Maimonides, said the hospital is also “preparing for any eventuality to ensure our patients, who come from diverse and often underserved communities, continue to get the care they deserve.

“While we are disappointed in the decision to issue a strike notice, we are committed to continuing to negotiate in good faith with our labor partners and remain optimistic that we can reach an agreement to avoid a work stoppage,” she said.