Cart
0
NYC Nurses Resume Talks as Strike Enters Fifth Day
New York City nurses and hospital systems resumed mediated contract talks with little progress as the city’s largest nurses strike in decades entered its fifth day.
Brennan LaBrie for w42st.com
New York City nurses on strike said Friday they have restarted contract negotiations with another major hospital system affected by the walkout, as the labor dispute entered its fifth day with no immediate resolution.
The New York State Nurses Association said its bargaining team began meetings Friday morning with representatives from the three impacted Mount Sinai hospitals at the request of a mediator. The renewed talks come as roughly 15,000 nurses remain off the job in what has become the city’s largest nurses’ strike in decades.
Gear Spotlight- What Our Readers Are Picking Up
The union also met late Thursday night with NewYork-Presbyterian officials and a federal mediator, marking the first negotiations with that hospital system since the strike began Monday. Both sides said the hours-long talks produced very little progress toward ending the walkout.
In a statement, NewYork-Presbyterian said discussions focused on addressing the union’s concerns about staffing levels but said it continues to view the union’s proposals as “unreasonable.” The union said it presented revised proposals during the meeting, which hospital officials rejected without offering a counterproposal. According to NYSNA, the talks ran past midnight and were observed by about 70 nurses after the proceedings were eventually opened to regular union members.
Both sides said there are currently no further plans to meet.
“While we continue to be far apart, we are committed to bargaining in good faith,” NewYork-Presbyterian said. “We are committed to safe staffing and have the best staffing ratios in the city.”
Negotiations have not yet resumed with Montefiore, the third major hospital system impacted by the strike. The union previously said it expected to meet with officials from the Bronx-based provider on Friday, but the hospital disputed that claim, saying a meeting had never been planned.
“NYSNA nurses respect the mediators and are ready and willing to come to the bargaining table when they call,” said union president Nancy Hagans. “We urge hospital executives to do the same.”
Each medical center is negotiating independently with the union, and not every hospital operated by the three health care systems is affected by the strike.
Hospital officials said operations have continued running smoothly since the walkout began, citing the hiring of thousands of temporary nurses to keep emergency rooms and other critical services open. For many nurses on the picket lines, the prolonged strike has meant long days outdoors, carrying essentials and paperwork from site to site, much like relying on a durable, all-purpose bag such as a 5.11 Tactical RUSH 24 2.0 backpack that’s built to handle heavy loads and long hours when conditions are demanding.
Dr. Philip Ozuah, president of Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx, one of the campuses affected by the strike, praised staff members who remain on duty.
“Another day, another miracle,” Ozuah wrote in a letter to employees. “Many thanks to our amazing teams, our most complex and exacting mission continues… providing life-saving care.”
Editor’s Note:
This article is based solely on statements from the New York State Nurses Association, hospital system officials, and publicly released communications during ongoing contract negotiations. Talks remain fluid, and developments may change as mediators continue efforts to bring both sides back to the bargaining table.
