A possible nurses strike at a number of New York Metropolis hospitals is now simply over two days away, a transfer that will put hundreds of well being care staff on the picket line quite than at sufferers’ bedsides.
There was some excellent news to begin the weekend night indicating some constructive momentum, however there’s nonetheless an extended methods to go to keep away from any full-blown well being care disaster within the metropolis.
The New York State Nurses Affiliation on Friday confirmed {that a} tentative deal had been reached with Flushing Hospital Medical Heart. The supply would give nurses 18 p.c raises over three years, plus guarantees improved staffing and that well being and pension advantages will likely be preserved.
By the subsequent morning, the union additionally confirmed a tentative settlement had been reached between nurses and administration at BronxCare.
Some hospitals have nonetheless not reached a tentative take care of nurses to cease the strike. Jen Maxfield experiences.
That makes 5 hospitals which have not less than reached tentative agreements: New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Maimonides Hospital, Richmond College Medical Heart, Flushing and BronxCare. A type of tentative offers, at Maimonides Hospital, has already been ratified by the union, eliminating the prospect of a strike from happening.
“The approval of this agreement is good for Maimonides, good for our nurses, and good for the patients we serve. We worked together to find common ground that supports our hardworking nurses and ensures our patients, many from underserved communities, continue to receive the best possible care,” Maimonides Well being CEO Ken Gibbs mentioned in a press release. “I am grateful to the members of Maimonides’ and NYSNA’s negotiating teams, in particular NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, for making this agreement possible.”
Hagans known as the supply the “best contract that we have ever had” and that it “helps demonstrate our hospital’s respect for nurses and our patients.”
As for the opposite hospitals beforehand talked about, these tentative agreements have to be voted on by members of the nurses union. If authorized, these hospitals would equally keep away from strikes. Voting will likely be accomplished on Saturday for NY-Presbyterian, and on Monday for Richmond and Flushing, the NYSNA mentioned.
Sufferers are being transported to different hospitals forward of a potential nurses strike. Melissa Colorado experiences.
In the meantime, one of many metropolis’s largest hospital techniques is making true on its phrase that it might begin taking take drastic measures to arrange for a strike.
Mount Sinai Well being System is starting to divert “a majority” of ambulances from 4 of its amenities, and is transferring infants from its neonatal intensive care items to different hospital techniques, in accordance with a memo from hospital management to employees, a replica of which was obtained by Information 4.
Video from Friday confirmed a child being transferred from the hospital’s NICU into an ambulance en route to a different hospital, an indication that Mt. Sinai is already scaling again on affected person care. A supply instructed NBC New York that shifting such a fragile younger youngster is a logistical course of that may take hours, with one child in an isolette or incubator allowed inside an ambulance at a time.
A spokesperson for Mt. Sinai known as the nurses union “reckless” and mentioned {that a} strike would “jeopardize patients’ care,” including that “it’s time for [the nurses union] to meet us back at the bargaining table and continue negotiating in good faith.”
However the nurses union instructed NBC New York that Mt. Sinai are those who walked away from the negotiating desk as a substitute, maybe exhibiting how far aside the 2 sides could also be within the waning hours earlier than the potential strike. They mentioned that the hospital’s negotiating crew walked away from the desk at midnight and canceled Friday’s negotiating session.
“We want the safe nurse-to-patient rations in every contract, a patient deserves better. Our communities deserve better. We all deserve better,” mentioned Hagans.
Mount Sinai mentioned it supplied a three-year sequence of pay raises totaling 19%, matching what the union just lately achieved in tentative contract agreements reached with another hospitals. Administration says they negotiated previous midnight into early Friday morning with the assistance of a mediator however have been nonetheless at an deadlock over wages. That deal was greater than the one prolonged by NY-Presbyterian over the weekend.
Mount Sinai’s chief nursing officer, Fran Cartwright, mentioned the talks hit a roadblock when administration tried to maneuver on to staffing and the union nonetheless needed to debate salaries. She mentioned administration was able to resume talks as soon as the union was keen to deal with different points.
A memo earlier within the week from the leaders of Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West made clear that almost all points within the ongoing negotiations have been resolved — however not all, and the clock is ticking.
“To do what is best for our patients, we have no choice but to proceed with our strike planning,” the memo says, outlining a sequence of steps:
- Diverting ambulances from Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai Beth Israel
- Cancelling elective surgical procedures, and scheduling solely emergency surgical procedures on the most important and Morningside amenities
- Transferring some sufferers. “In addition, this – sadly – means transferring NICU babies outside the Mount Sinai Health System to ensure they get the care they so desperately need.”
- Discharging “as many patients as appropriate” and shifting providers – inpatient care on the most important and West amenities, and emergency and youngster psychiatry on the Morningside campus
A Mount Sinai supply instructed Information 4 that there have been greater than 50 NICU infants on web site, barely under the utmost capability of 64.
Moreover, in accordance with a number of hospital insiders and union representatives, nurses within the Mount Sinai neonatal intensive care unit are livid they weren’t knowledgeable about plans to switch their frail new child sufferers to different hospitals. They mentioned that they came upon after it was reported by Information 4.
A supply says there’s quite a lot of frustration amongst docs and NICU nurses after the hospital introduced plans to relocate their NICU infants, as a result of they are saying there have been nurse shortages on this unit that make it unimaginable to keep up goal nurse to child ratios.
“They didn’t care about the staffing problems in the NICU until there was a threat of a strike,” the supply mentioned.
Cartwright mentioned the flagship was “heartbroken” about having to switch sufferers, notably the infants, however would guarantee the appropriate take care of them and sufferers who stay.
Nurses have mentioned that there was some progress at some bargaining tables the place hospitals are negotiating with their respective staffs, however not sufficient progress to keep away from a strike — but.
“The New York State Nurses Association will rescind a strike notice when we reach a tentative agreement at Mount Sinai that respects nurses and our patients. Not before,” mentioned New York State Nurses Affiliation president Nancy Hagans.
“Nurses feel abandoned and disrespected by their bosses,” Hagans mentioned. “We held the hands of dying patients, set up last FaceTime calls so dying patients could say goodbye to their loved ones.”
The New York State Nurses Affiliation says its nurses will not be backing down in a combat for higher wages, staffing and advantages. Rana Novini experiences.
Apart from the 2 Mt. Sinai websites (the principle campus and Mt. Sinai Morningside and West) there’s one other personal hospital (Montefiore) that’s on discover for a possible strike beginning the morning of Jan. 9 — a transfer that will ship already busy hospitals into full-on disaster mode, and doubtlessly have a devastating affect on care.
Every of the hospitals negotiates individually with their very own nurses, so relying on how talks go, there may very well be no strikes in any respect, a single strike or as many as 5 strikes.
“It could be an enormous public health calamity,” Ken Raske of the Larger New York Hospital Affiliation beforehand instructed NBC New York. He has described the temper as amongst hospital managers as “extremely apprehensive.”
Montefiore Senior Vice President Joe Solmonese mentioned nurses have been rejecting a “generous” supply. He mentioned it mirrored raises the union had agreed to elsewhere, whereas additionally including 78 extra emergency room nurses and making different will increase in pay, advantages and staffing.
Seven personal hospitals are on discover for a possible strike Monday morning. Melissa Russo experiences.
The nurses union mentioned there was not less than one signal of progress: The entire hospitals on the checklist have agreed to not lower well being advantages.
“There has been some offers and progress but we are not there yet,” mentioned Hagans.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s workplace has mentioned beforehand that they’re “monitoring the situation.” Sources mentioned that each Hochul and NYC Mayor Eric Adams are getting common every day updates on the talks. Whereas the hospitals concerned are all personal, that means neither Hochul nor Adams have any formal position, some have puzzled whether or not they would step in to use strain or attempt to dealer a deal.
Aides to Gov. Hochul confirmed that she has been very engaged for a lot of days, circuitously on the bargaining desk however chatting with either side frequently and pushing either side to get to sure. The state has additionally began to overview the hospitals’ strike contingency plans.
On Friday, Hochul mentioned that there “is no alternative. We need to make sure that the people of New York are being taken care of.”
New York-Presbyterian has a tentative settlement with nurses to keep away from a strike, however there are 7 different hospitals who will not be in the identical state of affairs. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo experiences.
The New York State Nurses Affiliation has hundreds of members threatening to conduct strikes at hospitals the place contracts expired on Dec. 31.
The union says members are upset about staffing ratios on the native hospitals, contract proposals that they really feel dramatically worsen their healthcare advantages (whereas paying massive bonuses to executives), and Mayor Adams’ latest transfer to forcibly hospitalize psychiatric sufferers. All of these parts have left staff overworked and burnt out.
“We’re not able to clean the patient on time, not able to give medicine on time, no breaks,” mentioned Allen. “Burnout was real, so we leave the profession and go to work at a travel agency that’s going to pay us more.”
The nurses are urgent for commitments to what they take into account gold-standard staffing ranges, akin to having not less than one nurse for every of the sickest sufferers in intensive care, and one nurse to about 4 sufferers in a typical medical-surgical unit.
With as many as 12,000 nurses threatening to stroll off the job on January ninth, the Larger New York Hospital Affiliation is compelled to arrange. Melissa Russo experiences.
The common wage for nurses in New York is $93,000, and $98,000 in NYC, nurses union and the GNYHA confirmed. Nonetheless, there’s a massive disparity between nurse pay in personal vs public hospitals, the place salaries are nearly $20,000 much less.
All of this comes as town offers with what’s being known as a tridemic – simultaneous and severe spikes in infections with COVID, the flu and the respiratory situation RSV.
The town has already issued an advisory (however not a mandate) suggesting that folks return to carrying masks indoors.
“Our ERs are backed up, the tripledemic is raging,” mentioned Raske. “Even if one hospital would have a strike, it could ripple through the entire system.”
In the meantime, negotiations are also ongoing with 4 Brooklyn personal hospitals. Nurses there have but to authorize a strike, although votes are in progress, Hagans mentioned.