Carly Intrabartolo '25
On Monday January 9, seven thousand NYC RNs walked out and began to strike against their employers. The two major hospitals were Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai in Manhattan. The cause for the walk out included the unsafe staffing issues, burnout from excessive workloads, and a request for rate increase.
Several hospitals in NYC had been bargaining for new contracts leading up to the walkout. Montefiore and Mount Sinai were the only two hospitals that held out for better staff to patient ratios. Many RNs who had worked at these institutions for years shared their experiences from recent years. They complained that the amount of patients each RN would care for on a shift would be unsafe.
Many said their patient to RN ratio was double what safe practice should be, and claimed they had too few lunch breaks, or had to work tirelessly for 12 hours a shift. The emotional toll it took on them providing care that in their opinions, was unsafe. They spoke of burnout, the emotional and physical toll which RNs experience that could lead to a decline in being able to provide safe healthy nursing care.
Mount Sinai and Montefiore were willing to increase the RNs’ salary to a desired amount, but these two hospitals were not willing to set more stringent patient to RN ratios, hence, the walkout on January 9th.
Some RNs who were interviewed at Montefiore felt that due to the low income population of the people who used Montefiore hospital, they were being neglected. Most RNs interviewed stated the patient to RN ratio was of extreme importance to keep patient safety a priority.
This nursing strike came to an end after three days, on January 12th. Both hospitals agreed to a 19% pay hike as well as guaranteeing safe RN to patient ratios, which will be decided based on each unit within the hospital. There will be financial penalties if these ratios are not maintained. There will also be 170 new RN positions created.
According to nurses interviewed, this was a victory for RNs as well as anyone who has to be cared for within these hospitals. Safety was always the main drive behind this strike.
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