NewYork-Presbyterian Slammed With Almost $400K in Financial Remedies to RNs for Understaffing Hospital, Nurses Continue to Strike for Safe Staffing

On Monday, NYSNA nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) who work in a pediatric intensive care unit at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital won an arbitration award after tracking the unsafe staffing levels in their unit from Jan. 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024. The arbitrator found that the hospital had violated the nurse contract’s staffing provisions 614 times and awarded nurses who worked understaffed $399,829. NYSNA nurses at NYP are in their sixth week of a historic nurse strike and continue to demand that the hospital address the safe staffing issues.  

Nurses who care for some of the sickest infants in the state were concerned about the chronic understaffing on their unit and carefully tracked and documented the staffing levels over the course of a year and a half. The arbitrator reviewed their documentation, finding that the hospital had violated the nurses’ contracts by failing to hire and retain sufficient nurses to safely staff the hospital’s pediatric cardiac intensive care unit, and that the “record established a perceived pattern of violations.”  

Sophie Boland, RN, from NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, said, “The most vulnerable patients in the city deserve the absolutely best care possible. That means having enough patients to safely care for our sickest children. While the financial remedies are nice, what we really want is more nurses and a contract that makes it harder for the hospital to avoid taking accountability. That’s why we’re on strike. It shouldn’t take years to get an acknowledgement of the conditions we’ve worked under when NYP could just do the right thing and safely staff the hospital.”

In 2024, NewYork-Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin raked in $26.3 million in total compensation —  that’s over $2.1 million per month, and nearly $72,000 per day. In just one day, NYP CEO Steve Corwin made more money than many New York City families make in an entire year.  New CEO Brian Donley made $5.4 million in salary, benefits and perks in 2024.  

NYSNA nurses at NYP recently voted down a mediator’s proposal that they say failed to adequately address their staffing concerns. They continue to strike and demand that the hospital agree to their staffing standards. Click here for updated picket times and locations!