Nurses Authorize Strike At Nyack, Mt Vernon, New Rochelle Hospitals

NYACK, NY — New York State Nurses Association nurses voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary at Montefiore Nyack, New Rochelle, and Mount Vernon Hospitals in the lower Hudson Valley.

Almost 100 of them plus community allies held a rally outside Nyack Hospital Tuesday to announce the result and continue to speak out about a staffing crisis facing all three hospitals that they have claimed for months threatens patient care. SEE: Nurses, Community Leaders Decry Understaffing At Montefiore Hospitals

"Nurses are overwhelmed. They go home at the end of the day knowing they weren’t able to give the patients the care they wanted to and can’t sleep at night because of this. We need to change this," said Anna Marie Perkins, RN, who has been a nurse for about 42 years at Montefiore Nyack.

While New York State has staffing guidelines, they are routinely exceeded, she said at the rally, describing Sunday staffing levels of 9-11 patients per nurse. "We need enforceable staffing ratios to protect our patients and our nurses’ mental and physical health."

The nurses’ current contracts with the hospitals will expire on Dec. 31.

For the first time, nearly 800 nurses across the three facilities are bargaining with a common contract expiration date and common bargaining platform.

NYSNA-represented nurses at each hospital are demanding contracts that prioritize safe staffing ratios with accountability, plus competitive wages and improvements to health and educational benefits.

"It makes no sense at all that Montefiore would treat the nurses in the Bronx and the nurses just over the border from the Bronx so differently. All Monte nurses deserve fair pay and enforceable safe staffing ratios. And patients in the Bronx, in Mount Vernon, in New Rochelle, in Nyack all deserve quality care with enough nurses at the bedside," NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN said in a news release about the vote.

Nurses can and are leaving Nyack, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle hospitals for better wages and working conditions, they said, alleging that several areas of each hospital are routinely understaffed because working conditions and wages have not kept pace.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three facilities have seen high nurse turnover, according to the union. The nurse vacancy rate at Nyack Hospital is nearly 25 percent, and it is 20 percent at New Rochelle. At Mount Vernon, there’s been a 23 percent reduction in the work force since 2020 due to resignations, vacancies, service reductions and changing plans for the facility.

"Not only do we need to train nurses and have them stay, but we want experienced nurses to feel comfortable coming in. Safe staffing is paramount in all of this," Shavelle Brown Edmond, who was trained and has worked for 27 years at Montefiore Mount Vernon, said at the Nyack rally.

Elected officials including Assembly Member Ken Zebrowski, Rockland County Legislator-elects Beth Davidson and Dana Stilley, and Rockland County Legislator and Retired Montefiore Nyack nurse Aney Paul showed up to the rally in Nyack to voice their support.

"I don't want nurses to go on strike," said Davidson, who lives nearby. "You take care of my neighbors, you take care of my children." When she was hit by a car last year, she was taken to Nyack, she said before listing some other family stays. "This is who takes care of us every day, it's only fair that we take care of you."

Elected officials, labor and community leaders in the region signed a letter to Montefiore supporting the nurses’ fight for fair contracts and their demands for safe staffing, fair pay and community health. NYSNA nurses at Nyack delivered this letter to management during a negotiation session immediately after the speak-out. See a copy of the letter here.

The vote authorizing a strike if necessary was approved by 96 percent of the members, union officials said.

Patch reached out to Montefiore for comment.

Editor's Note: Beth Davidson spoke at the rally, telling about a trip to the hospital. She was identified incorrectly in the original version of this article. Patch regrets the error.