Nurses are once again taking to the streets to call for change rally outside NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln.

Around 9,000 nurses from hospitals across the city are making their voices heard at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln where the state nurses’ union contract expires today.

The rally is made up of nurses specifically from public hospitals across the city. They say that there is a difference between what nurses who work at private hospitals are paid and what nurses who work at public hospitals are paid.

The nurses' union tells News 12 that with private nurses getting recent raises in their contract fights, that pay difference is expected to increase to around $19,000 per year.

They say this creates a domino effect: nurses leave the public hospitals and go to the private sector, which makes public hospitals understaffed and patients suffer.

Lincoln is just one of 11 public hospitals negotiating contracts with their nurses right now.

Rallies continued into the night kicking off at 7 p.m., with nurses marching outside of NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi to demand equal pay and to be recognized for their commitment to keeping New Yorkers healthy.  

NYC Health + Hospitals provided the following statement: 

“NYC Health + Hospitals is grateful for the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice our highly-skilled nurses make every day. We look forward to negotiating a new contract with NYSNA and welcome new opportunities to strengthen our partnership with NYSNA and the nurses who are so essential to our mission and our System’s success.”