By Maria Tsvetkova and Aleksandra Michalska
NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - New York City nurses walked out of 10 major private hospitals across the city on Monday to demand increased staffing, funding of health benefits and protection from workplace violence often coming from patients.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is just two weeks into his term, joined the picket lines to support 15,000 nurses that the New York State Nurses Association said were on strike.
"They are not asking for a multi-million dollar
salary. What they are asking is for their pensions to be safeguarded, to be protected in their own workplace, to receive the pay and the health benefits that they deserve," Mamdani told reporters.
Mount Sinai said that the union's proposals would cost it $1.6 billion over three years, with a $638 million increase in nursing costs by the third year, which is 74% more than current costs.
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul had declared a disaster emergency last week, allowing out-of-state and foreign medical personnel to cover for striking staff. The disaster emergency is in effect until February 8.
On Monday morning, dozens of nurses spoke of lack of healthcare benefits and inability to take adequate breaks during their shifts as they rallied outside a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in uptown Manhattan. NewYork-Presbyterian is one of three healthcare networks affected by the strike along with Mount Sinai and Montefiore.
"In the operating room, I work as a night nurse and we're always short on staffing and this is unsafe for the patient," said Michael Lazar, a 53-year-old NewYork-Presbyterian nurse.
Mount Sinai said it had secured more than 1,000 qualified and specialized agency nurses to cover for striking medics and to deliver care for "however long a strike may last."
NewYork-Presbyterian said all of its hospitals were open and continued to provide services.
Montefiore did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A notice on its website said that services would not be impacted by the strike.
The union and the hospitals held the last round of the negotiations the day before the strike, according to Mount Sinai and NYSNA. As of Monday evening, there was no information about the next talks.
(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; editing by Donna Bryson and Stephen Coates)
