Nurses at 2 NYC hospital systems return to work, but strike continues for thousands

Thousands of nurses at two New York City hospital systems are returning to work Saturday after striking for an entire month.

The New York State Nurses Association ratified contracts with Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, clearing the way for about 10,500 to return to work for the first time since walking off on Jan. 12.

More than 4,200 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital remain on strike after NYSNA members rejected a mediator's proposal, extending the longest nurses strike in the city's history. 

What's in the new contract?

Organizers said Montefiore and Mount Sinai nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new three-year contract after picketing through some of the city's coldest weather.

NYSNA's president said nurses are "stronger and more united than ever" after the strike.    

"It was a difficult process. It's surreal it's over 30 days," nurse Roy Permaul said. "It was worth it for our patients. It is worth it to preserve our health care, all our staffing." 

According to the union, 87% of nurses at Mount Sinai ratified their new contract, while 96% did so at Mount Sinai Morningside and 86% followed suit at Montefiore.

The new contract maintains benefits for nurses and comes with salary raises, about 4% each year, equating to an approximately 12% jump. It also includes safeguards against artificial intelligence. 

Organizers said the deal protects nurses and patients with new safe staffing standards. 

"We had to fight for, to defend everything that we basically had. Health care, pension, workplace violence. We needed a lot of protections. We needed protections against AI," nurse Dania Munoz said.     

Hugs, high fives and tears 

Cheers echoed down Madison Avenue as nurses reunited before heading back inside The Mount Sinai Hospital for the first time since their historic strike started.

"It's going to be a different hospital we go back to. But I think in the long run, it's going to pay off in our careers and our sense of ourselves," Jarrett Murphy said.

Union leaders said the walkout proved just how far nurses were willing to go to protect their patients. 

"We went through a very difficult process. We hopefully won't go through that again, but we're happy to be back home," Permaul said.   

"I'm excited. We're glad to get back to our patients. We're glad we were able to get a fair contract," Munoz said. 

Thousands of nurses still on strike

NYSNA said NewYork-Presbyterian nurses reached a tentative agreement with the hospital Tuesday night, but nurses ultimately voted to reject the deal and mediator's proposal, meaning the strike would go on. 

Jennifer Lynch, a nurse practitioner at NewYork-Presbyterian, told CBS News New York on Wednesday that she is on the executive committee, which initially rejected the deal. She said she voted "no" again, arguing it didn't address their main issues.

"I'm feeling a little bit shocked because yesterday we were a little bit blindsided by NYSNA going ahead and bypassing the typical procedure with the executive committee's decision," Lynch said at the time.

The deal included maintaining enforceable safe-staffing standards, increasing the number of nurses to improve patient care, and raising salaries by 12% over the next three years.

"Beginning late yesterday (2/10), NYSNA brought the mediators' comprehensive proposal to a vote with the NewYork-Presbyterian nurses represented by NYSNA. The voting has concluded, and we are disappointed that our nurses did not ratify the mediators' proposal, which we had accepted on 2/8, and NYSNA leadership endorsed," NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement, in part, adding, "We believe the proposal, which includes compromises, is fair and reasonable and reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role that they play. As stated, this proposal was presented by the mediators, who are some of the most respected and experienced neutral negotiators, after months of bargaining.

We're told there have been multiple requests for negotiators to meet again.