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On Monday, more than 15,000 unionized nurses working in three of New York City's private hospital systems walked off the job and onto the picket line, 12 days after their contracts expired. The healthcare workers, members of the New York State Nurses Association and their supporters, packed demonstrations outside of ten different hospitals in the city.
The striking nurses are demanding that hospital management address a range of issues, from chronic understaffing to preventing violence against healthcare workers. Nurses at Montefiore say they want to put a stop to overcrowding of patients, while nurses at Mount Sinai and New York-Presbyterian want to keep the cost of their healthcare benefits from going up. Striking has been effective in the past—after the city's nurses went on strike three years ago, they secured raises and guaranteed nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.