Rebecca Myles interviews Dana Brown, Senior Fellow at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation.
Rebecca Myles interviews Beth Loudin, Member of the New York State Nurses Association and RN at NewYork-Presbyterian.
NYSNA has reached a tentative agreement on a new work contract with New York Presbyterian Hospital, Thursday evening after striking for six weeks. The agreement has still be to be ratified but the New York State Nurses Association is calling it a victory.
“...(t)hrough some of the harshest weather this city has seen in years, nurses at NYP showed this city that they won’t make any compromise to patient care,” said Nancy Hagans, RN, President, NYSNA said in a press release. “The wins of our private sector nurses will improve care for patients, and their perseverance and endurance have shown people worldwide the power of NYSNA nurses.”
NYSNA represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. Over 15,000 went on strike on January 12 after new work contracts negotiations failed at multiple hospitals in New York City - Mount Sinai, Montefiore and New York Presbyterian. The stalemate was over healthcare benefits, safety on the job, AI work protections among other concerns.
Voting to ratify the terms of the agreement will take place at the weekend in hopes of nurses returning to work next week. Among the provisions include the improvement of the standards of enforceable safe staffing with more nurses to be hired, protection from workplace violence, as well as protection of their previously threatened health benefits. There is also the inclusion of increased protection of immigrant nurses as well as patients, and notably, the first-time safeguarding against Artificial Intelligence (AI) in nurse’s contracts.
Frontline Voices spoke to Beth Loudin, a registered nurse at NYP Hospital who is on the bargaining committee for the New York State Nurses’ Association (NYSNA) in their negotiations with the hospital.
“The biggest thing was the unity and the power of the nurses coming together,” Loudin told Carrie McDaid on Frontline Voice, when asked what shifted negotiations to make this deal happen now.
She spoke of the “record number” of nurses voting against the mediations last week, which only strengthened their resolve going into Thursday.
“The thing that was outstanding for us, and significant for us, was job security and staffing levels from last week’s proposals to this week,” Loudin continues, adding that after NYP “did the math” and realized these nurses aren’t going to picket line, they did in fact need to come to the table. When NYP resumed talks on Thursday, she described them as coming “ready to talk.”
When asked if she thought the dispute, and ultimate victory, was not just about the issues raised by the union and more about protecting the union itself?
“100% … [NYP] purposefully slowed down the bargaining” remarked Loudin. “The strike was facilitated by them. “If anything, their actions actually brought us closer together…what a union really means is that we are all the union.”
WBAI’s Frontline Voices reached out to NYP for comment but nothing was available before deadline.
"We are pleased to have reached a tentative settlement with NYSNA, through the mediator, that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses—the settlement is still subject to ratification,” New York Presbyterian said in a statement..
WBAI will continue to monitor the strike outcome through the weekend.
