Historic New York city contract Groundbreaking Safe Staffing

On March 23, the NYSNA nurses at One Brooklyn Health Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center unanimously ratified new contracts, bringing the historic campaign of 17,000 New York City private-sector members bargaining on a common platform to an end.

New York City private-sector nurses had been meeting and planning a major joint contract campaign for nearly one year. The campaign was the largest in NYSNA history, mobilizing a record number of members and resulting in groundbreaking gains in safe staffing, protecting benefits, wage increases, health and safety protections, and community benefits. Nurses at two hospitals, Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, engaged in a three-day strike in early January that captured the nation’s attention and delivered transformative victories for nurses, patients and the broader community.

Whatever It Takes

NYSNA members at 12 hospitals with contracts expiring on Dec. 31, 2022, were facing cuts to their health benefits and employers at the bargaining table who were more than happy with the status quo of small wage increases and lip service to safe staffing. Frustrated with the pace of negotiations, nurses at 10 of those hospitals voted on Dec. 22 to strike.

The strike vote started a timeline that brought focus to negotiations and pressured hospitals to respect nurses and their demands. Nurses spoke out in the media and gained tremendous public support and recognition for their heroism during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenging conditions they continue to face.

served Notice

On New Year’s Eve, with contracts about to expire, NYSNA RNs delivered 10-day notices to strike at eight hospitals, setting into motion what could have been one of the largest nurses strikes in U.S. history. RNs spoke out about the shortstaffing crisis that puts patients at risk. They shared stories about their colleagues leaving the bedside and the professional all together because of current conditions. They drew attention to the dangerous working conditions and the need to continue good health benefits for themselves and their families.

New York City private-sector nurses were facing the real prospect of health benefit cuts at the hands of employer trustees of the NYSNA benefit plan that would reverberate beyond New York City to tens of thousands of NYSNA nurses in the state. Employer trustees were unwilling to increase rates to cover the rising cost of our health plan and instead tried to push cuts and costs onto NYSNA nurses. At the bargaining table, employers didn’t want to talk about wages until healthcare costs were settled. That all changed when Wyckoff Heights Medical Center agreed at bargain-