Mayor Zohran Mamdani flashed his Democratic socialist colours Monday as he meddled in a heated contract dispute — becoming a member of 1000’s of hanging nurses from Huge Apple non-public hospitals on the picket line.
The controversial transfer put the lefty mayor at odds with the CEOs at at Mount Sinai, New York-Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Middle, whom he known as out as “the wealthiest in your entire metropolis” whereas griping that “these executives should not having issue making ends meet.”
“The hospital executives who run these hospitals, those the place these hardworking nurses are asking for what they deserve, these executives should not having issue making ends meet,” Mamdani stated alongside hanging staffers exterior NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia in Washington Heights.
“However for too most of the 15,000 NYSNA nurses who’re on strike, they aren’t in a position to make their ends meet,” he stated. “They aren’t asking for a multimillion-dollar wage.”
Hundreds of nurses in purple rallied exterior the Manhattan hospital, hooting and rattling noisemakers. They held indicators with phrases equivalent to “A minimum of the blood on our fingers washes off” and “Nurses are the beating coronary heart of the medical system.”
Hospital officers and the New York State Nurses Affiliation have traded barbs, accusing one another of being grasping in disputes over wages, advantages and staffing — with vitriol spewing from each side — as 15,000 staffers started hanging Monday.
“They bragged that they spent $100 million to rent out-of-town nurses to exchange us whereas we strike,” NYSNA president Nancy Hagans stated.
“They may have simply have put that cash towards our medical health insurance,” she stated. “Nurses are asking for protected staffing. We’re asking for work safety towards office violence. We’re asking for the grasping CEOs not to remove our medical protection.”
Critics questioned why Mamdani, who oversees town’s public hospital system, would take sides within the prickly labor dispute, one thing Mayor Eric Adams shied away from throughout a 2023 nurses’ strike.
The mayor’s open help for the non-public hospital nurses may backfire if the tables are ever turned, one hospital official who requested to stay nameless stated.
“Finally, the Mayor will be taught that his public hospitals are subsequent in line to face NYSNA’s pricey and unsustainable calls for—leaving taxpayers to choose up a good greater tab,” the supply stated.
The stalemate between the three main medical programs and the hanging nurses obtained off to an acrimonious begin — with one of many healthcare giants accusing the union of trying to guard members who present up for work drunk or stoned.
The accusation got here from brass at Montefiore Medical Middle in The Bronx, which accused the New York State Nurses Affiliation of hanging to forestall more durable self-discipline towards inebriated hospital staff.
“NYSNA management’s demand {that a} nurse not be terminated if discovered to be compromised by medication or alcohol whereas on the job is one other instance of placing their very own self-interest earlier than affected person security,” Montefiore stated in a press release to The Submit Monday.
NYSNA shot again: “Montefiore’s determined try and slander New York Metropolis’s nurse heroes exhibits simply how low they’re prepared to go to keep away from settling honest contracts that shield Bronx sufferers and nurses.
“Montefiore nurses are combating for protected staffing and protections from office violence,” the union stated. “In the meantime, hospital executives present their disrespect for nurses by refusing to comply with our proposals to guard affected person and nurse security, and blatantly mischaracterizing considered one of our fundamental office proposals, which hospitals across the metropolis and state have already adopted. If Montefiore desires to demonize and stigmatize substance use problems, then they shouldn’t be allowed to name themselves a healthcare facility.”
One nurse on the picket line at Montefiore rolled her eyes and known as the declare “full BS.”
“Do you truthfully suppose if considered one of our workers confirmed up she’d be allowed to maintain her job?” she stated. “It’s utterly ridiculous to indicate that drunk nurses have something to do with why we’re hanging, and if something, it’s degrading to us to indicate that.
“Our strike has nothing to do with defending nurses who, in the event that they present as much as work drunk or excessive, clearly shouldn’t be working in a hospital,” she stated.
A picture on Instagram, in the meantime, confirmed a bar in Brooklyn — Block Hill Station — providing buy-one-get-one-free beers to assist strikers combating “for affected person security and honest workers advantages.”
“Love this! Free beer!” the submit stated, alongside prayer fingers emojis. “All Placing Nurses: Purchase One Get One On Choose Beers.”
Whereas the 2 sides have been duking it out, on a regular basis New Yorkers may pay the worth.
“The wait was longer. The transfusion was longer. Usually issues transfer very effectively, however that wasn’t the case this time,” stated Luis Del Valle, who introduced his 89-year-old mom for a weekly transfusion at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.
“Every little thing simply took longer,” he stated. “We obtained via it, but it surely wasn’t enjoyable. I’m positively hoping this will get resolved earlier than our subsequent appointment.”
Javier Morales. whose brother was within the ICU with pneumonia, had an analogous gripe.
“It positively felt like a workers scarcity,” he stated. “My brother wants numerous monitoring, and usually the nurses are out and in always. However there was much more ready. Name buttons take longer. Nobody dropped the ball, but it surely does make me nervous.
“You get accustomed to a sure normal of care, of issues working a sure approach, and I didn’t see that at present,” Morales stated. “If one thing large goes down, or if numerous emergencies occur all of sudden, I don’t get the sensation that the nurses on workers can deal with it.”
