Mount Sinai Hospital transfers NICU babies to other hospitals over pending nurses strike
By CHRISTINA FAN
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NEW YORK (WCBS) — Nearly 10,000 nurses in New York City may walk off the job on Monday unless a new agreement is reached between hospitals and their union.
As it stands Saturday, nurses at five hospitals plan to go on strike. The union said its main sticking point is hiring more nurses.
The growing threat of a nurses strike is less than two days away and Mount Sinai Hospital is taking drastic actions in preparation: diverting ambulances, canceling some elective surgeries, discharging as many patients as possible, and even moving NICU babies to other hospitals.
“For our parents who have babies here, this is, for them, could be the most stressful time of their lives,” said Francis Cartwright, Mount Sinai’s chief nursing officer.
Mount Sinai is one of the five hospitals at a stalemate with the New York State Nurses Association, along with Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Montefiore Medical Center and BronxCare Health System.
“It’s gonna be chaos. There’s no way they could have enough nurses to take care of the patients,” Flandersia Jones, a nurse as BronxCare, told CBS2 when asked what would happen if a strike occurs.
A key negotiating point is the need for increased staffing. Jones said her average patient count has doubled since the pandemic started and the workload is unsustainable.
“Most patients don’t get the care that they deserve and that’s not what we signed up for,” said Jones.
“There was one nurse. I really felt bad for her because she was running, running, running, running, and it was like nonstop,” said Sarah Galindez, the wife of a patient.
Friday night, the union reached a tentative agreement with Flushing Hospital, which joined NewYork-Presbyterian, Maimonides Medical Center and Richmond University Medical Center in avoiding a strike.
A deal with Mount Sinai still seems far off. Cartwright said the contract offer is generous, especially when it comes to pay raises.
“With the compounded interest, that’s 19 percent over time, putting extra contributions into the pension, into the health benefits,” said Cartwright.
“There are still hundreds of nursing vacancies the administration needs to fill,” said Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association.
If an agreement is not reached, the strike will start Monday at 6 a.m. Hospitals said they’re prepared to bring in traveling nurses.
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