NYC Nurse Strike Ends as NYSNA Declares Historic Victories at Montefiore and Mount Sinai

New York City nurses' strike for safe staffing ended yesterday morning in historic victory as tentative deals were reached with both Montefiore Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital. Nurses won concrete enforceable safe staffing ratios in both deals and went back to the job immediately.

“This is a historic victory for New York City nurses and for nurses across the country," said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN in a statement. "NYSNA nurses have done the impossible, saving lives night and day, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and now we’ve again shown that nothing is impossible for nurse heroes. Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai where nurses went on strike for patient care. Today, we can return to work with our heads held high, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”

Mount Sinai nurses won wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units with firm enforcement so that there will always be enough nurses at the bedside to provide safe patient care, not just on paper. New staffing ratios take effect immediately in a historic breakthrough for hospitals that refused to consider ratios that nurses have been demanding for decades.

At Montefiore, nurses won new safe staffing ratios in the Emergency Department, with new staffing language and financial penalties for failing to comply with safe staffing levels in all units. Nurses also won community health improvements and nurse-student partnerships to recruit local Bronx nurses to stay as union nurses at Montefiore for the long run.

Thank you to everyone in our City's Labor Movement who answered the call and stood with NYSNA nurses during their fight. Our members and supporters showed once again that New York City is a Union Town and when we stand together and fight together, nothing is impossible. Read all about the nurses' victory in The New York Times, The Chief-Leader, Gothamist, THE CITY, and The Guardian, and follow NYSNA on Twitter for more—including their picket line playlist!