THE NATION
More than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals in New York City went on strike early yesterday, forcing the health centres into a frantic flurry to move patients, divert ambulances and scale back other services.
The strikes, over working conditions,salaries and staffing policies, presented serious challenges to hospitals already facing the “tripledemic” of R.S.V., flu and Covid-19 cases across the city.
After failing to reach an agreement during a late-night bargaining session on Sunday, the New York State Nurses Association said early yesterday that nurses were on strike at two hospitals: the Mount Sinai Medical Center, on the Upper East Side, and Montefiore Medical Centre in the Bronx.
“It is time for the hospitals to treat these nurses fairly, with the dignity and respect they deserve, to ensure nurses can get back to serving their communities by providing superior care to their patients,” Mario Cilento, the president of the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O. said in a statement.
The hospitals rushed to bring in temporary staff and continue operations, even pressing doctors into service to fill nursing shortages. In a statement yesterday, Montefiore Medical Center said the union’s leadership had “decided to walk away from the bedsides of their patients,” despite management’s offer of a 19.1 percent compounded wage increase and its commitment to creating more than 170 new nursing positions.
