NEW YORK (AP) — As the strike deadline nears, contract negotiations continued Sunday between three New York hospitals and the union representing nearly 9,000 nurses who will resign on Monday, union officials said.
Talks are ongoing with Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, both with more than 1,000 beds, and Mount Sinai Morningside and West, New York State Nurses Association President Nancy Hagans on a conference call with reporters. Negotiators have reached tentative deals at several other hospitals in the city.
“We’ve always said that our number one problem is the staffing crisis, the chronic understaffing that is hurting patient care,” Hagans said.
He said negotiations had resumed for the first time since Thursday with Mount Sinai’s leadership. Discussions with other hospitals are ongoing.
Hospitals took steps to prepare for a strike by transferring patients, directing ambulances elsewhere, and postponing elective surgeries.
In a statement, Mount Sinai said the union’s focus on the staff-patient ratio “ignores the progress we’ve made in attracting and hiring more new nurses, despite a global shortage of health care workers affecting hospitals across the country.” “.
The Associated Press
