(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 'Thank-yous are no longer enough': Thousands of nurses go on strike in New York City [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-09 According to the New York State Nurses' Association, the strike began Monday morning after nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Harlem failed to reach an agreement with hospital administration during a bargaining session Sunday night. Between the two hospitals, more than 7,000 nurses went on strike—about 3,500 from each facility. "These nurses are dedicated professionals who provide quality patient care under unimaginable conditions day in and day out that were exacerbated by the pandemic," Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, a labor union, said in a statement Monday. "Now they are faced with the added challenge of short staffing that has reached critical levels and could compromise their ability to provide the best quality care to their patients." "It is time for the hospitals to treat these nurses fairly, with the dignity and respect they deserve, and to negotiate in good faith, quickly, to ensure nurses can get back to serving their communities by providing superior care to their patients," the statement continued. x Nurses strike is turnt up in East Harlem #NYC right now pic.twitter.com/2PRu2iySfl — Andrew J. Padilla 🇵🇷 (@apadillafilm6) January 9, 2023 According to USA Today, the Nurses Association had initially warned that it would strike at all 12 hospitals with union contracts at the same time. However, only two have negotiated at this time. New York State Attorney General Letitia James stood with the health care workers on strike, noting that the strike isn't just about money—it’s about the quality of patient care and health. James noted that if hospitals can hire temporary travel nurses to address understaffing from the strike, there is also no excuse not to hire more nurses. "Thank-yous are no longer enough, the applauses are no longer enough. We need a fair contract," Borough President of Manhattan Mark Levine said. Others also disputed the idea of a national nursing shortage, an issue that was present at the peak of the pandemic. "There is no nursing shortage. Just a shortage of jobs that we nurses want to work in," said Maine State Nurses Association spokesperson Emma Cooper, a postpartum nurse at the newly unionized Maine Medical Center. "We all know that we have a job to do, and that is a job that we happily signed up for. But how can we do our work well when employers refuse to hire enough of us to do it? The answer is we cannot." According to the union, at least one of the hospitals, Montefiore, has 760 nursing vacancies—“too often one nurse in the emergency department is responsible for 20 patients instead of the standard of three patients.” Speaking to the dispute on Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement noting that the New York State Department of Health would continue to enforce staffing requirements at both hospitals "to maintain the delivery of essential health care services to the community and protect patient health and safety.” In statements issued Monday, both hospitals claimed that the union refused to accept their offer of a 19.1% wage increase. “NYSNA continues its reckless behavior, rejecting Governor Hochul’s proposal for binding arbitration,” Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday. “The Governor’s proposal would have provided a path to avoid this strike, which sadly is forcing nurses at The Mount Sinai Hospital to leave their patients’ bedsides,” it said. According to CNN, last year, 385 strikes took place across the U.S., with numerous nursing strikes recorded. Unions cited the reason for the strikes as burnout and health problems among members. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/9/2146325/--Thank-yous-are-no-longer-enough-Thousands-of-nurses-go-on-strike-in-New-York-City Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/