NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.
“Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at multiple hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems.
About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.
Management will argue that a nurses’ strike is going to get patients killed.
I say, Management is getting patients killed by refusing to pay fair value to nurses for their labor and forcing them out of the health care industry by necessity.
Also, I love that New Yorkers are putting their foot down on affordability. Has to happen somewhere, dammit.