6,000 New York nurses threaten to protest

More than 6,000 nurses at three of New York’s top hospitals are threatening to go on strike due to changes management made in their health benefits and shrinking staff to cut costs, The New York Times reported.

Nurses at hospitals Mount Sinai, Montefiore Medical Center and St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center are preparing to walk out unless a settlement is reached, according to the report:

“Their battle with the hospitals reflects common themes across the country. The nurses, who voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, say they are being treated with disrespect by a corporate hospital culture that demands sacrifices from patients and those who provide their care, but pays executives millions of dollars."

It continues:

"Management officials defend executive pay as the price of competition for top leadership, and accuse the nurses of refusing what many other American workers have accepted: paying a share of their health insurance premiums, along with higher co-payments, deductibles and prescription costs.”

Tens of thousands of nurses in California represented by the California Nurses Association staged a one-day strike in September over similar issues.

About 2,000 nurses in Southern California announced another 24-hour strike on Dec. 22 to protest unreached contract negotiations with management, the Los Angeles Times said. 

The New York strike might have some patients worried – patient mortality is nearly 20 percent higher during a strike in The Empire State regardless of whether hospitals hired temporary replacements or tried to manage with a smaller staff, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.