Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

NYC Nurses Rally Ahead of Announced April 2 Strike Date

NYSNA announced an April 2 strike date for four private hospitals in NYC. One of those hospitals, Mount Sinai, nurses held a rally and speak out demanding safe staffing and a fair contract.

Facebook Twitter Share
Photo: Luigi Morris / @luigiwmorris

On Monday, nurses and supporters of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) gathered outside Mount Sinai Hospital to rally for a fair contract. The NYSNA announced on Sunday night their plan for a strike starting April 2. Nurses’ demands are focused on patient care; they held signs that read “patients over profits” and “safe staffing or strike.”

Speeches were made before the assembled nurses marched across the street to the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to hear more from practicing nurses and to demand safer staffing ratios.

 Photo: Luigi Morris / @luigiwmorris

In the days leading up to the rally, 97% of nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian-Columbia and Mount Sinai West/St. Luke’s hospitals voted to strike, and nurses at other New York hospitals are expected to join them. Nurses at the Brooklyn Hospital Center are voting on a strike this week, and the crowd included nurses from Brooklyn and from other area hospitals standing in solidarity with their colleagues at the “big four” hospitals. The sentiment from the rank-and-file nurses is clear: If their demands are not met, they are ready and willing to strike.

As the embedded videos show, rank-and-file nurses are passionate about what they do and angry that management has chosen to shortchange both staff and patients. One nurse declared to Left Voice reporters, “I’ve been here for 42 years and I’m very willing to go out and strike for the safety of the patients I’m looking after.” Stickers with “97% Yes” were commonly found on shirts and jackets throughout the gathering, referring to the 97% of nurses who voted in favor of a strike at the “big four” hospitals.

https://www.facebook.com/LeftVoice.org/videos/2007524596218453/

.
Tre Kwon, one of the speakers in front of the Ichan School of Medicine, summed up the mood of the crowd, saying, “In the next two weeks, we’re going to be ready, we’re going to get strong, and we’re not going to let [management] fill our ears with their lies.” Another nurse we spoke to added on to this sentiment and further explained the situation: “After months and months of negotiations from October up until now, the Alliance refuses to negotiate. The only thing they want to come to us with is contingencies or money. It is not about the money. It is the principle …We need safe staffing. Safe staffing saves lives.”

The crowd was not made up solely of nurses. Members of other unions also turned out in support, including CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress and the Communication Workers of America Local 1101. Kwon mentioned recent labor actions from teachers in California and West Virginia as an inspiration. The gathering closed with a rousing chant of “Who has the power? We have the power! What type of power? Union power!”

The will of the rank-and-file of nurses is strong and clear: safe staffing or strike.

https://www.facebook.com/LeftVoice.org/videos/872725103065292/

Facebook Twitter Share

Ezra Brain

Ezra is a NYC based theatre artist and teacher.

Olivia Wood

Olivia is a writer and editor at Left Voice and lecturer in English at the City University of New York (CUNY).

United States

“Lesser Evil” Biden Wants More Border Patrol Than MAGA Republicans

Over the weekend, Biden bragged about his support for even more resources than “MAGA Republicans.” to “secure the border” on Twitter. This is “lesser evilism” in action.

Molly Rosenzweig

March 28, 2023
Customers clear shelves of water Sunday at Fresh Grocer in West Philadelphia.

A Chemical Plant Just Poisoned Philadelphia’s Water: A First-Hand Account of the Crisis

A company dumped thousands of gallons of poisonous chemicals into Philadelphia’s drinking water. This is an on-the-ground account by a Philadelphia worker and socialist.

Jason Koslowski

March 27, 2023

Joe Biden Is Deporting Russians Who Escaped Putin’s Draft — Let Them All In!

The United States is deporting Russians who sought asylum following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a heinous attack against war resisters and shows that the proxy war in Ukraine is about capitalist rivalry first and foremost.

Sam Carliner

March 26, 2023

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

MOST RECENT

At Least 39 Migrants Die in Fire at Detention Center in Mexico. The State Is Responsible.

The events of March 27 marked one of the darkest chapters in the Mexican State’s anti-immigrant policy, a policy that is increasingly subordinated to the interests of U.S. imperialism.

The French Union Bureaucracy Walks Back Demand for Complete Withdrawal of Pension Reform

After calling to put the pension reform “on hold,” the Inter-Union has requested “mediation,” even though the French government has rejected outright the proposal, showing that compromise is impossible. This proposition symbolizes the Inter-Union’s strategy of defeat. We urgently need to organize the rank and file to broaden our demands and generalize the strike.

Damien Bernard

March 30, 2023
A group of protesters, in the front of whom are a line of protesters wearing red vests. In the front right corner, a white sign reds "vive la retraite," with a skeleton wearing a red hat in the middle of the sign on a black background with a text bubble on its left that reads, "oiv a bosse, c'est pas pour en crever!"

“French March”: The Right to Revolutionary Optimism

Evoking memories of '68, the students enter the fight against Macron. In our chaotic world, the future can only be built in the streets.

Eduardo Castilla

March 26, 2023

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023