New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses continued their second week of action at rallies from Manhattan to Brooklyn, demanding safe staffing to ensure proper patient care and a fair contract, which expires on Dec. 31, 2025, for the approximately 20,000 NYSNA nurses who work at 12 private-sector hospitals.
While NYSNA nurses are fighting for safe staffing, reverse staff and service cuts that harm patient care, stronger safety and workplace violence protections, guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence in patient care, and fair wages and benefits to recruit and retain enough nurses for quality care, the total compensation for Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian CEOs, including salaries, benefits, and perks, increased by over 54% from 2020 to 2023 according to 990 tax filings -New York-Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin earned $14,6 million in 2023, or $40,000 per day, earning more money in two days than most New York City families make in an entire year.
Additionally, Mount Sinai invested $100 million in an AI facility.
At a rally outside Maimonides Health in Boro Park on Nov. 13 — the health care provider is one of the private-sector hospitals — NYSNA nurses and local pols mobilized, demanding that safety-net hospitals such as Maimonides ensure safe staffing and protect healthcare in New York ahead of the Trump administration’s impending healthcare cuts. New York could lose $4.9 billion in federal funding for the healthcare system and likely see an increase in the number of uninsured New Yorkers.
Russell Pinsker has worked as a registered nurse at Maimonides for eight years and currently works in the Open Heart ICU.
Pinsker told the Brooklyn Paper that the hospital was chronically understaffed, noting that more nurses would lead to better care for patients.
“We give 150%, and we need enough staff, so we can do our jobs and provide the care that the patients and the community need,” Pinsker said. “We can’t work overtime every single day. Nurses deserve time to take care of themselves so they can come in the next day and take care of the next person. How can you take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself?”
Pinsker, a member of the bargaining committee, told the crowd that they had made little progress since the last bargaining session six weeks ago.
“This time around, we are bargaining against a totally different group of people, and they made it clear that they do not share the same priorities as we do, which is, first and foremost, safe, patient care,” Pinsker shared.
Pinsker’s mother, Margaret, a retired registered nurse after 47 years of service, was concerned about her retirement benefits.
“Nurses have always fought for all the benefits we have enjoyed over the years. Now the hospital is trying to take some of them away,” Margaret Picker said. “Losing our retirement health benefits will create hardship on us, our families, and our health system, especially at this time when healthcare costs are becoming unaffordable.”
His colleague, Emily Hansen, a registered nurse working on Maimonides’ surgical floor, pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were celebrated as heroes; once the pandemic was over, they were demoted to “zeros.”
“A hospital can’t run without nurses. We are the foundation,” Hansen told Brooklyn Paper. “Of course, we work together with our doctors and our management, but nurses are the foundation. As much as you want us to give the best care to our patients, we deserve the best care for ourselves, for when we have to see our own doctors and care for our own families.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, a registered nurse and critical care expert, said hospitals had to step up, stop “playing games” with artificial intelligence, and invest in patient care.
“We’ve watched hospitals like Mount Sinai attempt to veil the extent to which they’ve prioritized their money-making ventures over the patients of this city,” Hagans said. “We’re here to say enough is enough. Nurses, who have been on the frontlines of caring for patients and have been ruthless in their fight to protect federal healthcare funding, are demanding hospitals do their part.”
Local pols stressed that nurses were on the front lines of patient care.
City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse (D-Brooklyn), a registered nurse and the Chair of the Council’s Committee on Hospitals, had one message for hospital administrators and CEOs.
“[If] you don’t have nurses, you don’t have a hospital,” Narcisse declared. ” We put our lives in danger every day, we care, and we’re delivering high-quality health care to everyone. So right now, all we want is our fair share and a fair contract for all of us.”
Crystal Hudson’s mother worked as a registered nurse at Harlem Hospital for 30 years. The pol, who represents the neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, and Fort Greene, recalled that her mother always put her patients first.
“I want to make sure that every nurse has the contract that they deserve, has the benefits that they deserve, has the pay that they deserve to keep our communities safe,” Hudson declared.
Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte echoed Narcisse and Hudson’s sentiments, calling for a fair contract.
“Our nurses sacrifice their lives every single day, working night shifts, day shifts, long hours, just to protect us,” Bichotte said.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso introduced himself as the “president of the greatest borough in New York City.”
“But we can’t be the greatest borough in the city without a world-class health system. The foundational parts of the world-class health care system are our nurses,” Reynoso said.
Sam Miller, vice president for Marketing and Communications at Maimonides Health, told Brooklyn Paper in a statement that Maimonides’ nurses are critical to providing the outstanding care that communities expect and deserve.
“We are confident that we will reach a contract agreement with NYSNA that allows us to build on our success into the future,” Miller wrote in an email.
Brooklyn Paper has reached out to Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals for comment, but did not hear back by publication.
