NewYork-Presbyterian nurses back on the job after 41-day strike

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NEW YORK (AP) — Nurses returned to work Thursday at a big New York hospital system, nearly a week after they approved a new contract that ended a major nursing strike.

More than 4,000 nurses in the privately run NewYork-Presbyterian system went on strike Jan. 12. The walkout was part of a dispute that also saw nurses strike at two other big private hospital systems in the city, Montefiore and Mount Sinai.

Nurses with those systems ended their strike on Feb. 11 by inking contract agreements with the New York State Nurses Association, but nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian rejected that deal and remained on strike until they approved their new three-year contract on Saturday, ending a 41-day strike.

Provisions included staffing improvements, raises topping 12% over three years and safeguards on the use of artificial intelligence, according to the union.

The union has said the strike initially involved about 15,000 nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian. It affected only some facilities within the three systems and didn’t involve any city-run hospitals.

During the strike, Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian brought on thousands of temporary nurses, transferred some patients and canceled some procedures. The hospitals insisted they were smoothly delivering care, including complex surgeries. But some vulnerable patients and their families said some routine tasks took longer.

The strikers complained of unmanageable workloads and accused the hospitals of trying to chip away at health benefits. The hospitals contested those claims and said the union’s demands were exorbitant.

Nurses at some Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospitals also walked out in 2023. That strike ended in three days.