Nurses Strike Ends in New York City After Tentative Agreement Reached Between Hospitals and Union

A three-day strike involving over 7,000 nurses at two private New York City hospitals has come to an end after a tentative agreement was reached between the hospitals and the New York State Nurses Association.

The strike began on Monday after the union argued that immense staffing shortages had caused widespread burnout among nurses, hindering their ability to properly care for their patients. In response, both Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in upper Manhattan had to postpone nonemergency surgeries, divert ambulances to other medical centers, pull in temporary staffers and assign administrators with nursing backgrounds to work in wards.

The union said the tentative deal will help put more nurses to work and allow patients to receive better care. “Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai,” the union said in a statement.

The agreement includes a commitment from the hospitals to hire more nurses, as well as a commitment from the union to work with the hospitals to ensure that the staffing levels are maintained. The union also said that the hospitals have agreed to provide more resources for nurses to help them better care for their patients.

The agreement is a victory for the nurses, who had been fighting for better working conditions and better patient care.