Nurses at private hospitals across New York City are demanding more pay and no changes to their benefits, saying they won’t work unless those demands are met.  

The New York State Nurses’ Association is helping to spearhead this strike. Ari Moma, a Bedford-Stuyvesant nurse and a board member of the association, says staffing was tough during the pandemic years.  

Moma added that there are more nurses now, but most are travel nurses brought in from other states to help with staffing shortages at city hospitals. He thinks that condition, pay, and other factors need to improve in order to help nurses stay and build a career in the community.  

Moma is one of 17,000 nurses across 12 city hospitals who are voting to strike.  

“We swore an oath to take care of these patients,” said Moma. “It’s our job to take care of these patients and it’s like we can’t take care of them anymore.” 

The stress of the pandemic still stays with Moma, but he wants to continue fighting for what he and nurses across the city need to do the job they love.  

“Most of the time I'm sleeping, I’m dreaming of moving bodies,” said Moma. “This is not the time for me to walk away. The only time I will walk away, is if I close my eyes.” 

Nurses at Bronxcare, Montefiore, Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai-Morningside and West, NewYork-Presbyterian and Richmond University Medical Center completed the vote to strike today. 

Here are their statements regarding the Nurses Association’s strike:

Montefiore: “Our nurses are the backbone of Montefiore and critical to providing the compassionate, patient-centered care everyone has come to trust. Since the beginning of negotiations, we have negotiated in good faith with the goal of reaching an equitable agreement. We hope the union’s leadership will join us in our commitment to our nurses and patients and avert an unnecessary strike. Regardless of the outcome, our doors will remain open and we will continue to deliver on our mission to provide the high quality care to our community.”

Mount Sinai Health System: "We have been actively engaged with our nurses during this contract negotiations and have shared regular updates supportingournurses.com. Please feel free to use any information on this site in your reporting. Our goal is to reach an agreement that continues to provide our valued nurses with competitive compensation and benefits and ensures a safe, supportive and working environment that enables them to provide exceptional care to all our patients across the diverse communities we serve. We’ll keep you posted as these discussions continue."  

Richmond University Medical Center: "We will not provide comment on the negotiation process directly other than to say we value each and every one of our nurses for the exceptional care they provide to our patients each and every day."

NewYork-Presbyterian: "We respect and value all of our nurses, who play a central role in delivering the exceptional care that NewYork-Presbyterian is known for. We remain hopeful that union leadership shares our dedication to reaching a fair and reasonable contract agreement, and we will continue to bargain in good faith. While a strike vote does not necessarily mean a strike will occur, and we remain committed to reaching an agreement. We must always prioritize our patients and their care, and we have made the necessary preparations to ensure that our patients at NYP Columbia University Irving Medical Center, NYP Allen Hospital, and NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital continue to receive the same high-quality care, without interruption, in keeping with our fundamental obligation to the communities we serve.”