NYSNA Nurses and Allies Speak Out to Rebuild and Strengthen NYC's Public Healthcare System Through Pay Equity, Safe Staffing and Fair Funding

More than a dozen elected officials joined New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses in solidarity on the City Hall steps yesterday to launch a campaign for a fair contract for the nearly 9,000 NYC Health+Hospitals/Mayorals nurses and fair funding for the nation’s largest public health system. NYC’s public sector nurses have been essential in saving lives throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the NYC Health+Hospitals system is facing crisis-level understaffing and underfunding.

NYSNA First Vice President Judith Cutchin, DNP, RN, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the deep inequalities in NYC’s public and private sector hospital systems, which led to a disproportionate number of people of color and low-income patients dying of COVID-19. We need full and fair funding for our public healthcare system as a matter of health equity and racial justice and to make the entire city more prepared to deal with the ongoing pandemic and future healthcare emergencies.”

NYC Health+Hospitals nurses care for 1.4 million New Yorkers each year, regardless of ability to pay, including 475,000 uninsured patients. As private sector hospitals downsize and eliminate less profitable services like mental healthcare, labor and delivery, and emergency/trauma care, New York’s public hospitals are there to provide these essential services. Read more here, and follow the nurses' campaign and see more photos of Thursday's rally on Twitter!