{"id":13323,"date":"2026-02-05T16:28:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=13323"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T04:08:16","slug":"ny-nurses-strike-for-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2026\/02\/05\/ny-nurses-strike-for-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Nurses Strike for Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>nyone who reads Confined Space<\/em> regularly is likely depressed about the ongoing shrinking of OSHA’s ability to police working conditions in this country. At the end of last year In 2024, there are only 768 federal OSHA inspectors and 1,034 state inspectors to oversee the 11.8 million workplaces and 161 million workers under the OSHA\u2019s jurisdiction. That means that OSHA could only reach every workplace in the country every 165 years. And that number threatens to get worse.<\/p>\n

But even amidst the unrelenting news about the horrors of Minneapolis and authoritarian assaults on our democracy, there are some glimmers of hope out there. In this case a stirring story of almost 15,000 brave New York nurses, organized by the New York Nurses Association<\/a>, walking out on strike. The strike, which began January 12, is in its fourth week. The main problem is safety issues — safety for nurses and safety for patients. <\/p>\n

The strike is also dealing with wages and nurses health benefits. \u00a0Nurses are asking for pay increases of 7 percent the first year, 6 percent the next year and 5 percent in the third year. The hospitals are offering far less.<\/p>\n

Three hospital systems are affected by the walkout, Montefiore, Mount Sinai and New York-Presbyterian. As the strike drags on, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged the hospitals and the union to keep negotiating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nurses Are Getting Beaten Up<\/h2>\n

Workplace violence is not a new issue for nurses.<\/p>\n

In 2017, a doctor\u00a0went on a rampage at a Bronx hospital with a rifle<\/a>, killing another physician and wounding six other people before setting himself on fire and shooting himself, the authorities said. More recently, in November, a gunman threatened to shoot up Mount Sinai, an episode that underscored nurses\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

In addition, the nurses association pointed to an incident in November when a man allegedly threatened<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cshoot up\u201d a Mount Sinai hospital before being killed by police. In another incident in early January, a man allegedly threatened staff with a sharp object before barricading himself\u00a0in a Brooklyn hospital room<\/a>. He was shot and killed by police.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also fighting for protections from workplace violence, because nurses shouldn\u2019t fear for our lives on the job. — Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital Sheryl Ostroff\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But these are not isolated incidents. As Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital Sheryl Ostroff wrote in today’s New York Times<\/a>,<\/p>\n

We\u2019re striking so that nurses and patients alike can be safe. We\u2019re fighting for adequate numbers of nurses to care for the number of patients we see. We\u2019re also fighting for protections from workplace violence, because nurses shouldn\u2019t fear for our lives on the job.<\/p>\n

More than 80 percent of nurses experience workplace violence each year, according to\u00a0one industry survey<\/a>. The rate of violent incidents is reportedly increasing, too. Almost all of these assaults are\u00a0perpetrated<\/a>\u00a0by patients, though patients\u2019 family members can also threaten our safety. People don\u2019t realize that hospitals are increasingly dangerous places to work in. Because nurses spend more time than anyone else with patients, we often get the brunt of their anger with the health care industry, lack of adequate services and long wait times.<\/p>\n

I have worked with nurses throughout my entire career and some of my closes family members work as nurses today.\u00a0 You can’t talk to any nurse without stories of being kicked, punched, pushed, hit or threatened by patients. And no nurse went into the profession expecting to become mixed martial arts expert in order to do their job safely.<\/p>\n

The solutions to workplace violence are well recognized and well documented by OSHA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ms. Anderegg, the Mount Sinai nurse, said that she wanted metal detectors and armed police officers or guards at hospital entrances, something that some other hospitals have. She said that since the strike began, police officers have been present outside Mount Sinai. \u201cWhat do they think we are going to do, storm the hospital?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A state law will go into effect this year that requires hospitals in New York City and the surrounding counties to have trained security personnel or an off-duty police officer\u00a0present at all times<\/a>\u00a0in the emergency department. The law notes that about 70 percent of emergency room nurses say that they have been\u00a0assaulted at work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and NY Mayor Zorhan Mamdani have joined workers on the picket lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we see a strike, people forget that that is not where workers want to be. The strike is an act of last resort. What workers want is to be back at work. This is about safe working conditions. This is about a fair contract. This is about dignity,\u201d Mamdani\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this is in fact about is recognizing the worth of each and every nurse in this city.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Sanders added:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe people of this country are sick and tired of the greed of the healthcare industry,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re tired of the drug companies ripping us off, the insurance companies ripping us off and hospital executives getting huge salaries. Don\u2019t tell me you can\u2019t provide a good nurse-staff [patient] ratio when you\u2019re paying your CEO at New York-Presbyterian<\/a> $26m a year, the CEO at Montefiore<\/a> $16m a year. Mount Sinai $5m a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Patient Safety<\/h2>\n

Nurses work long hard hours for inadequate wages and lousy conditions, and they struggle across the country for safer conditions for themselves and for their patients. One thing they all have in common is that they deeply care about the welfare of their patients. And they understand that short staffing in hospitals doesn’t just lead to burnout and make violent incidents more likely, short staffing also affects patient safety<\/p>\n

In 2024 alone, New York-Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin received $26.3 million in total compensation while Montefiore CEO Dr. Philip Ozuah received around $16.3 million in compensation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And even their victories are often hollow and short lived. As Ostroff continues: :<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I was part of a union-led fight to address short staffing within our emergency room. Nurses sometimes had as many as 16 or 17 patients at a time; when nurses have that many patients, we don\u2019t take breaks, eat or go to the bathroom. A third-party arbitrator ruled in our favor in June 2023, ordering the hospital to pay nurses who worked understaffed shifts and to hire more nurses to fill vacancies. But management failed to fill the open positions for months, leaving us understaffed by as much as 35 percent. This led to a second ruling two years ago in which another arbitrator ordered my emergency department to pay almost $1 million in compensation to my colleagues and me. Our fight paved the way for similar orders at multiple Mount Sinai departments, ultimately amounting to over $2 million in payments to overworked nurses.<\/p>\n

Despite the arbitrators\u2019 orders, Mount Sinai continues to understaff units, creating unsafe conditions for nurses and patients. When you don\u2019t have enough nurses working a shift, those who are working end up with higher caseloads, angrier patients who are upset by the lengthened wait times and less safe hospitals. This must change.<\/p>\n

To adequately care for patients, we need to have a safe nurse-to-patient ratio. California requires there to be one nurse for every four patients in the emergency room. New York\u00a0doesn\u2019t consistently enforce<\/a>\u00a0its staffing requirements for intensive care units, and the New York State Nurses Association\u00a0has found<\/a>\u00a0that some hospitals have left emergency room nurses with a staffing ratio as high as 10 to one. Our patients receive slower, less attentive care when we do not have enough nurses to support them.<\/p>\n

A Hard Strike<\/h2>\n

Recent strikes have lasted only a few days, but this time, the hospitals dug in for the long haul, hiring hundreds of temporary nurses<\/a>.\u00a0Dr. Brendan G. Carr, the chief executive of the Mount Sinai Health system said that the three Mount Sinai hospitals affected by the strike were operating under the assumption that they would need replacement nurses for a few more weeks. So far, the affected hospitals collectively have spent more than $100 million on short-term staffing.<\/p>\n

Nurses with families and small children are going without paychecks and health insurance. As the City<\/a> reports:\u00a0“Nurses who spoke with THE CITY all agreed that missing a paycheck hurts, but going without health coverage for themselves and their dependents is even more distressing. Still, they\u2019re maintaining their resolve. ‘Solidarity is important to me, and I identify very strongly as a union nurse,’ said the Mount Sinai Hospital nurse practitioner. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good situation but this is, I think, bigger than not having income for a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n