16K Nurses Threaten Strike As UES Hospitals Prepare For Fallout

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Five private hospitals, including Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on the East Side, are preparing to function without nearly 16,000 nurses on Monday if an agreement is not reached with their union, which is threatening to strike for higher wages and health care benefits.

According to the New York State Nurses Association, the contract for the union expired on Dec. 31, and hospitals have until Jan. 12 to reach an agreement with the union.

The nurse union said that, in addition to higher wages and health care benefits, the union is striking for improved pension plans and protection from workplace violence, highlighting the recent active shooter situation at Mount Sinai on East 100th Street in November.

One of the union's demands is to add weapons detection systems at every hospital entrance and to increase security, union representatives said at a rally in early December.

"NYSNA Nurses are doing everything we can to settle fair contracts that keep patients and nurses in safe staffing and avert a strike," Nancy Hagans, the president of the New York State Nurses Association, said during a press briefing.

"Unfortunately, our richest private hospitals seem determined to force nurses out on strike," Hagans said.

So far, the city's eight public "safety net" hospitals have made initial agreements with the union, but private hospitals are still in negotiations and preparing for a strike, according to Hagans.

In addition to higher wages, benefits and safety protocols, key sticking points in the negotiations include the use of artificial intelligence and more robust staffing, the union said.

Mount Sinai officials have already begun training non-union nurses and have run staffing disruption drills, Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for the Mount Sinai Health System, said.

"NYSNA leadership has chosen to abandon patients in their time of need, but Montefiore Medical Center, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian will not," Lee said. "Their decision to walk out on our patients can only be described as reckless."

Lee said nurses are asking for wage increases that would drive annual salaries by an average of $110,000, but Hagans said during the press briefing that those numbers are inflated by the inclusion of benefits.

Here are the hospitals that could be affected if an agreement is not met by Monday.

• Mount Sinai Hospital
• Mount Sinai West
• Mount Sinai Morningside
• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
• Montefiore Medical Center
• BronxCare Health System

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