As the largest nurses’ strike in New York City history enters its second week with no resolution in sight, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mayor Zahran Mamdani joined hundreds of picketers in the bitter cold on Tuesday to support their fight for better wages and workplace protections.
Last week, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) announced that nearly 15,000 employees of New York Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, and Montefiore hospitals had “no choice” but to strike after the hospitals failed to meet their needs. Demands For safe employment, protection from workplace violence, safeguards against the use of AI in healthcare, and to maintain 100% of their healthcare benefits.
Outside Mount Sinai West on 10th Avenue, Mamdani, who attended his second sit-in, called for a “quick and urgent solution” to workers’ demands after negotiations with hospitals stalled last week and chains began hiring replacement workers.
“This is about safe working conditions. This is about a fair contract. This is about dignity. And today is day nine — day nine — of those demands, and I want you to know that everywhere I go in New York City, I hear about the plight of our nurses,” the Democratic Socialist mayor said. He said. “Now is your time of need, when we can ensure that this is a city where you not only work, but a city where you can live.”
In the comments on CBS News New Yorkhospital chains mocked NYSNA’s demands for a 25% pay increase, especially in the wake of massive health care funding cuts from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last year.
A spokesman for NewYork-Presbyterian He said Nurses — who are said to earn $163,000 on average — are among the highest paid in the city, and have described demands for higher wages as “unrealistic.” A Montefiore spokesperson told the network that progress in negotiations will be impossible until the nurses back down from their reckless and dangerous $3.6 billion demands.
But New York is also one of the most expensive cities in the world to live. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living wage calculatorNurses’ wages are often barely enough to meet the basic needs of the family, especially for single parents with children.
Meanwhile, Nysna He said The administration has “threatened to cut or radically reduce health benefits for nurses” and has done nothing to combat severe staffing shortages.
“We’re talking about an emergency room filled to the brim.” One said One of the strikers is nurse Morgane Betancourt. “Ninety patients, and we probably have nine nurses.”
On Tuesday, Sanders (I-Vt.) emphasized that the sudden economy at hospitals was not a major concern when it comes to compensation for hospital executives.
“Don’t tell me you can’t provide a good nurse-to-staff ratio when you pay your CEO New York Presbyterian $26 million annually, CEO V Montefiore $16 million annually Mount Sinai “$5 million a year,” Sanders shouted to applause from the strikers. “Don’t tell me you can’t treat nurses with dignity when you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on mobile nurses.”
According to the Greater New York Hospital Association, all three hospitals combined had spent Nearly $100 million to pay temporary nurses as of the fourth day of the strike. Temporary recruitment agencies have required Hospitals have to pay two to three times what they pay regular nurses, Bloomberg I mentioned.
The negotiations are still at a complete standstill after their collapse last week. While the hospitals claim the union has refused to budge on their unreasonable demands, Jonathan Hunter, a negotiator for Mount Sinai nurses, said: He said spectrum news ny1, “They stoned us, gave us nothing, and we left with nothing.”
The strike has left the hospital system in turmoil, forcing some patients to leave Move and non-emergency surgeries Canceled. This is all the more reason for hospitals to reach an agreement with their workers, Mamdani said.
“A lot of times when we see a strike, people forget that this is not where the workers want to be,” Mamdani said. “A strike is a last resort. What workers want is to get back to work. So what this means is making that possible. And so we call on all parties to return to the negotiating table. A quick and urgent solution.”
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