The nurses’ strike that left four NYC hospitals scrambling for coverage after 7,000 nurses walked off the job has ended, the nurses’ union announced early Thursday morning.
The New York State Nurses Association confirmed that the strike ended in “historic victory” with “tentative deals” reached at both Mount Sinai Hospital’s main campus in Manhattan and and three locations of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
“At about 2:30 a.m., we got a text message and it said we won, that we could get back to our patients on our shift and it’s over,” nurse of 12 years Rada Kirchenko told The Post Thursday morning outside Mount Sinai – where cops began to remove the barricades surrounding the area where she and her colleagues had picketed since Monday.
Kirchenko said the nearly three-day strike – which caused a major staffing blow – could have been avoided if hospital higher-ups previously heeded the nurses’ calls for “better working conditions” – “but unfortunately it had to get to this point.”
“We didn’t want to leave our patients,” she said. “So now it’s [a] happy time. It’s a happy morning.”
At Mt. Sinai, the tentative agreement includes an 8.5 percent raise for nurses in 2023, compared to their earnings in 2022, according to a copy obtained by The Post.
From there, they will receive another 7.7 percent increase in 2024 and a 7.8 percent increase in 2025, according to the document.
Mount Sinai nurses also won “wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units,” the union said.
Retired nurses between the ages of 60 and 65 will receive a Health Reimbursement Account and up to $15,000 per retiree each year to purchase health insurance, according to the tentative agreement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul showed up at Mount Sinai early Thursday to celebrate with the nurses and snap a few photo ops, posted to Twitter.
“Congratulations to New York’s nurses on their new contract!” Hochul tweeted. “My team and I have been working around the clock to bring all sides together. I’m proud this agreement delivers good wages & benefits to our frontline heroes & ensures patients will receive top-notch care.”
Nurses’ union president Nancy Hagans called the end of the strike “a historic victory for New York City nurses and for nurses across the country.”
“NYSNA nurses have done the impossible, saving lives night and day, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and now we’ve again shown that nothing is impossible for nurse heroes.”
“Through our unity and by putting it all on the line, we won enforceable safe staffing ratios at both Montefiore and Mount Sinai where nurses went on strike for patient care,” Hagans added. “Today, we can return to work with our heads held high, knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.”
Nurses walked back into Mount Sinai at 7 a.m. Thursday, after “winning wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios for all inpatient units,” the union said.
“The strike is over and we have an agreement,” the Mount Sinai Health System tweeted. “Thank you, Mount Sinai team, for your unwavering dedication to world-class patient care.”
A Mount Sinai nurse who only identified himself as George exclaimed, “Amen! We are happy. We won!” as he walked into the hospital Thursday morning.
“We finally got the agreement with our management and I’m so happy to go back to work,” nurse Yulia Chernyshova, 36, nurse for four years, told The Post. “Our patients were waiting for us for such a long time – like we were striking for three days and finally we are back.”
“We did it for our patients. We did it for the future of nursing because we fight for safe working conditions,” she said. “Nursing is based on patient care, so that’s why we did what we did and now…we are back so we’re happy about that.”
At Montefiore, the nurses won “new safe staffing ratios in the Emergency Department,” the union said.
“Nurses also won community health improvements and nurse-student partnerships to recruit local Bronx nurses to stay as union nurses at Montefiore for the long run,” according to the union.
Montefiore announced that its nurses were also set to return at 7 a.m. Thursday, and all surgeries, procedures and outpatient appointments set for Thursday and afterwards will proceed as scheduled.
“We are pleased to announce that Montefiore Medical Center has reached a tentative agreement with the leadership of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) on a new collective bargaining agreement,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our tireless focus remained on ensuring Montefiore nurses have the best possible working environment, with significant wage and benefit enhancements, and we worked hard to secure this outcome with NYSNA.”
Overnight, nurses at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center also reached a tentative deal and withdrew their 10-day strike notice, the union said.
Hundreds of health care professionals were seen picketing outside Mount Sinai at the height of the strike.
Placards called for “better patient care,” a “fair contract for patients and nurses” and demanded, “Don’t silence our voice on staffing!”
A travel nurse working at the hospital as a result of the strike told The Post exclusively that the strike had crippled the hospital as skeleton crews juggled an overwhelming workload.
“God, it’s not like they are saying it is — it’s worse,’’ she said.
“If I were a family member, I’d move my family to a hospital that’s not on strike because it’s difficult, and it’s not safe,’’ the nurse added.
“I am a confident nurse. I have a lot of experience in the ICU. But I’ve never felt like this before. We are literally doing all we can to keep them alive.”
Patient Leah Stern, 19, of New Rochelle, was at Montefiore’s campus at 111 E. 210th St. on Tuesday for her daily platelet transfusion to treat a bleeding disorder and told The Post she had to wait nearly six hours – or triple the usual time – to get the procedure.
“I had to wait for hours,” said Stern, who had an eye swollen shut and a bandage wrapped around her head from a recent fall because of her medical condition.
“And I didn’t even finish all my transfusions,” she lamented. “I have to do it at home now.”
Prior to the strike, other hospitals in the city had recently reached tentative pacts with their nurses, who are repped by the same union.