NEW YORK (AP) — More than 4,000 nurses seeking better staffing and job security at New York-Presbyterian Hospital reached a tentative contract agreement with management early Friday, bringing an end to New York City’s largest nurses strike in decades.
The New York State Nurses Association said union negotiators and managers at the last of three major hospital systems affected by a more than month-long strike approved a tentative agreement but gave no details.
The proposal will now be put to a vote by union members. If approved, nurses could return to work as early as next week.
“We are pleased to have reached a preliminary settlement with NYSNA through a mediator that reflects the great respect we have for our nurses — a settlement that remains subject to approval,” NewYork-Presbyterian spokesperson Angela Karafazli said in a statement.
About 4,200 nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital were among the last to remain on the picket line amid frigid temperatures in what their union called the largest and longest nurses’ strike in the city’s history.
“For a month and a half, New York City’s nurses showed the city they would not compromise on patient care, even as the city endured some of the worst weather in years,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans. “Victories for our private sector nurses will improve patient care, and their perseverance and endurance demonstrate the power of NYSNA nurses to people around the world.”
On February 11, approximately 10,500 nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals approved new three-year contracts. The union said the agreement between Montefiore and Mount Sinai includes pay increases of more than 12 percent over three years.
The agreement also maintains health benefits for nurses at no additional out-of-pocket costs and includes new protections against workplace violence, particularly for transgender and immigrant nurses and patients, and introduces safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in hospitals.
NewYork-Presbyterian Nurse rejected the offer in the Feb. 11 agreement.
The strike began on January 12 and targeted three of the city’s largest and most prestigious private health systems.
During flu season, hospitals hire scores of temporary nurses to fill staffing gaps, causing concern for some of the system’s most vulnerable patients and their families.
In a bumpy, contentious negotiation, the hospital complained the union’s demands were unreasonable and excessive. Nurses counter that top hospital executives earn millions of dollars a year while creating overwhelming workloads for nurses.
An arbitrator this month awarded nearly $400,000 to some nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital for having to work amid staffing shortages in 2023 and 2024, the union said, calling the decision evidence of the issues that prompted the strike. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital responded that “safe staffing is always a top priority” and that it has hired hundreds of nurses over the past three years.
The strike does not affect all hospitals in the NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems, and nurses at city-run hospitals are not participating. Other private hospitals have also struck last-minute deals with unions.
___
Associated Press reporters Jennifer Peltz in New York and Bruce Shipkoski in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed.
