Following the longest nurses strike in New York City history, which lasted 5 weeks over January and February this year, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) said they are pursing arbitration with the management of Montefiore Health System following allegations of intimidation against some Montefiore nurses since their return to work on Feb. 14, after a deal was struck between the parties ending the strike.

 

According to NYSNA, the arbitration also relates to allegations that hospital management allegedly delayed the return-to-work date of some of the Montefiore nurses beyond Saturday, Feb. 14, after the strike ended, and alleged that this sabotaged their work schedules so that the impacted nurses couldn’t return to work when they wanted to.

 

NYSNA said a hearing with an independent arbitrator was due to be held March 2 on the matter. In the meantime, Norwood News reached out to Montefiore for comment. We were informed by a Montefiore spokesperson that no hearing took place, they had no information on any future scheduled hearing, and the hospital had no further comment.

 

At the end of the strike in mid-February, NYSNA members celebrated a deal which they said maintained enforceable safe staffing standards and increased the number of nurses to improve patient care, protected the health benefits that they alleged hospitals threatened to drastically cut, protected nurses from workplace violence, and protected immigrant and trans patients and nurses.

 

They said it also safeguarded against artificial intelligence in their contracts for the first time, increased salaries by more than 12% over the life of a 3-year contract to recruit and retain nurses for safe patient care, beat back what they alleged were aggressive takeaways on healthcare and safe staffing enforcement, and returned all nurses to work after ratification. Montefiore did not issue any statement following the end of the strike.