New York Nurses Are on Strike While Medical Executives Are Rolling in Cash
Nurses at two hospitals in New York City are on strike, fighting for wage increases and against chronic understaffing. Meanwhile, executives of these nonprofit institutions are making millions of dollars at the expense of patient care.
A nurse holds a sign during a strike at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on January 9, 2023. More than seven thousand nurses at two major New York City hospitals went on strike Monday, saying staffing levels at private sector facilities are inadequate and that pay should be higher. (Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Monday, seven thousand New York nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan went on strike over massive short staffing.
While a Montefiore spokesperson said “the union leadership’s decision will spark fear” in the public, and a Mount Sinai representative called the strike “reckless,” the hospitals have understaffed while boosting executive pay and slashing charity care.
Nurses have faced extreme staff shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with nurses in the emergency departments in New York City sometimes handling twenty patients at a time. That’s more than five times what is allowed by law in California, the only state with nurse-to patient ratios enshrined in law. Such short staffing, say nurses, translates into poorer care for hospital patients.
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