Thousands of nurses at two of New York City's largest hospitals were set to go on strike Monday morning after a weekend of negotiations over pay and staffing failed to produce a deal for a new contract.
As many as 3,500 nurses at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx were expected to participate in a walkout starting at 6 a.m. Monday, along with around 3,600 nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, The Associated Press reported.
Nurses at two facilities within Mount Sinai's health care system tentatively agreed to contracts Sunday, the New York State Nurses Association, the largest union representing registered nurses in the state, announced, but negotiations continued at its flagship hospital.
"Nurses don't want to strike," the union said in a statement late Sunday. "Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients."
Montefiore and Mount Sinai were among a number of hospitals with contracts with the union that expired.
The New York State Nurses Association had threatened to strike at all of the affected hospitals at the same time, but other hospitals reached agreements with the union ahead of the deadline.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged the two outstanding hospitals and the union to take their dispute to binding arbitration in a statement Sunday.
"Strikes have been averted at New York Presbyterian, Richmond University Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center," she said. "Yet there remain outstanding issues at Montefiore and Mount Sinai and I am now calling for binding arbitration so that all parties can swiftly reach a resolution."
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The governor said that in the meantime, 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."
The New York State Nurses Association, Montefiore and Mount Sinai did not immediately respond to overnight requests for comment from NBC News.
In its statement Sunday, the union said Hochul "should listen to the frontline Covid nurse heroes and respect our federally-protected labor and collective bargaining rights."
Montefiore's administration said in a statement that it was willing to let an arbitrator settle the contract "as a means to reaching an equitable outcome," according to The Associated Press.
In a statement Sunday, Mount Sinai noted that the NYSNA had rescinded its strike notice at the two facilities where tentative agreements were reached.
It said the deal included a 19.1% wage increase over three years that was identical to those already accepted by the union at six other hospitals and officially ratified by nurses at New York-Presbyterian and Maimonides Medical Center.
"This exact wage proposal has also been offered to NYSNA for nurses at The Mount Sinai Hospital. We are continuing to negotiate in good faith with NYSNA and hope they will accept our offer, which would provide an additional $51,000 in cash compensation for each nurse, plus $19,500 in medical benefit payments, over three years," it said. "We hope they will similarly rescind their strike notice at The Mount Sinai Hospital."
The hospital said patients would be contacted by text, email and/or by phone if their appointments or procedures were affected by Monday's expected strike action.