The New York State Nurses Association said in the lead-up to the strike -- and after it started -- that no one wanted to walk out, but claimed the privately owned, nonprofit hospitals had forced the action. Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the union says understaffing remains a chronic problem and wages aren't high enough to compensate.Jed Basubas said he generally attends to eight to 10 patients at a time, twice the ideal number in the units where he works.
Mount Sinai’s administration said the union’s focus on nurse-to-patient ratios “ignores the progress we have made to attract and hire more new nurses, despite a global shortage of healthcare workers that is impacting hospitals across the country." Union sources familiar with the negotiations said that nurses at Mount Sinai's main campus want what their peers at Mount Sinai West already got in their deal, which includes a more generous range of"differential" bonus pay for more experienced nurses. Sources also said they are looking for a built-in arbitration mechanism that would settle staffing and work conditions disputes as they come up.
“What we’re really fighting here for is patient safety,” she said. “How can I pay attention to your needs when I’m being called somewhere else with the rest of the patients?”Darcy Gervasio took medical leave from her job at a suburban college library, made child care and transportation arrangements, got tests and otherwise prepared for a gastrointestinal surgery that was scheduled Monday but now is postponed indefinitely, she said.