NYC nurses strike enters Week 2 still with no end in sight
New York City's largest nurses strike entered its second week Monday and there appears to be no end in sight as around 15,000 nurses hold the picket line.
No bargaining sessions are currently scheduled between the New York State Nurses Association and the three major hospital systems: Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian.
Day 8 of picketing
More than 100 NYSNA nurses were back out in the brutal cold to picket for an 8th day since the strike started last week.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin visited nurses standing outside The Mount Sinai Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
"We want to make sure that there's safe staffing, which is incredibly important for the nurses, for the patients. And so we're urging the parties to come to the table," Menin said.
The nurses have been standing firm on their demands for improved staffing ratios, protection from workplace violence and health care benefits.
"We want to get out of the cold. I want to get back to my patients and take care of our community," Roy Permaul, a Mount Sinai nurse said.
Nurses plan MLK day of service
Striking nurses said they would take part in a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day focused on giving back to the community.
Nurses will be offering free community health screenings to public housing (NYCHA) tenants who live at the George Washington Carver Houses, which is across the street from The Mount Sinai Hospital.
The screenings are available from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., organizers said.
"In our community, people that support us, we're trying to support them," Permaul said.
Later, Rev. Al Sharpton will rally with nurses at Mount Sinai Morningside in Upper Manhattan. The rally is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Where negotiations stand
NYSNA said it's imperative that the hospitals agree to their demands to improve staffing ratios, offer protection from workplace violence and maintain health care benefits.
The nurses said, like King, they are fighting for racial and economic justice by striking in order to provide safe, quality health care for all New Yorkers.
Last week, the union held bargaining sessions with Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian, but said no progress was made toward a deal and accused hospital executives of rejecting their revised proposals without making a counteroffer.
"We didn't think that we would be going on strike to begin with. We want to take care of patients. From the end of August since bargaining, we have been asking them for what is needed to take care of patients," nurse Minna Scott said.
"The things that we fought for last three years, they're trying to roll it back. Management is trying to take some of those things back and, unfortunately, we don't agree with that. It's not safe for our community. It's not safe for nurses to have more patience," Permaul said.
The hospitals' negotiators repeatedly called the nurses' demands unreasonable, with Mount Sinai saying the proposal would cost $1.6 billion over the next three years.