NYC nurses strike sees wins, but some nurses say contracts fall short

After almost 15,000 New York City nurses ended the largest strike in the city's history in full by Feb. 26, union leaders say the negotiated contracts have set new industry standards, while some nurses say they don't go far enough in a few key areas. In their new three-year contracts, NYSNA officials wrote in a press release, nurses won concessions around safety, including enforceable safe staffing standards; more nurses at all hospitals; and workplace safety measures such as additional weapons detection systems at entrances, additional visitor screening, wearable panic alarms, and steps toward implementing behavioral health rapid response teams. Nurses also won paid time off to appear in court if they are affected by workplace violence. Other concessions won include protections to nurses’ health benefits and no additional costs to nurses; guardrails against AI in all contracts for the first time; and increases to salaries by more than 12% over the three-year contract. Nurses also won protections for immigrant and trans patients and nurses, including clear guidelines for protecting patient care and interacting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, and Montefiore, and new protections for trans workers at Mount Sinai Hospital. The new contracts, however, didn't go far enough in key areas where nurses wanted to see transformative change, according to some nurses who said they did not secure significant gains to protect trans and immigrant workers and patients. Nurses said they organized for months to secure more commitments from the hospitals to protect and make queer workers, particularly trans workers, feel comfortable at work. Additionally, nurses demanded that the hospital commit to reinstating gender-affirming care for trans youth under the age of 19, a practice that Mount Sinai has recently decided it would no longer provide.