This is me keeping my word, and I will continue to do so, on the picket line and beyond. Stand Tall New York State Nurses Association.
When I ran for City Council in Mount Vernon, the nurses asked me a simple but powerful question during my endorsement interview:
“Would you walk with us when we need to stand up for our rights?”
I said yes.
This week, I kept my word.
I joined nurses on the picket line as they stood up not only for themselves, but for their patients, their profession, and the future of healthcare in our communities. At a time when political promises are too often forgotten once campaigns end, showing up matters. Solidarity matters. Being present matters.
While New Yorkers face an affordability crisis, New York City’s wealthiest private hospitals are charging patients nearly 4 times what it actually costs to provide care in 2023.
Right now, negotiations remain at a standstill as nearly 15,000 nurses are on strike across three private hospital systems: Mount Sinai, Montefiore, and NewYork-Presbyterian. These nurses are fighting for safe staffing levels, fair working conditions, and the ability to provide the quality of care patients deserve. This is not just a labor dispute. It is a public health issue.
On the picket line, the message was clear: exhausted nurses cannot provide safe care in chronically understaffed hospitals. Many nurses spoke about impossible patient loads, skipped breaks, and burnout that have only intensified since the pandemic. Despite being called “heroes,” they are now being asked to accept conditions that put both patients and staff at risk.
Wednesday night marked a tense escalation.
Nurses on the picket line had a new target: the traveling nurses being brought in to replace them temporarily. At NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, a steady stream of buses carrying replacement nurses rolled in. Each one was met by demonstrators holding signs, chanting, and pleading for solidarity.
The frustration was palpable.
Traveling nurses are often workers themselves, navigating a broken healthcare system. Still, their use in this moment underscores a larger problem: hospital systems would rather spend enormous sums on temporary staffing than invest in retaining experienced nurses, improving working conditions, and negotiating in good faith.
What I witnessed was not anger for the sake of anger. It was pain. It was exhaustion. It was nurses who felt unheard by billion-dollar institutions that rely on their labor but refuse to address their core demands.
Walking alongside them, I was reminded why I entered public service in the first place. Why I have served as an educator for 29+ years, and why I decided to become a chapter leader for the UFT. Leadership is not about press releases or sound bites. It’s about showing up when it’s uncomfortable, when it’s inconvenient, and when it matters most.
I went home to research the why? Yeah, I know I stood tall without fully understanding what it took for them actually to walk out.
According to the New York State Nurses Association website http://www.nysna.org:
Mount Sinai attempted to make examples of nurses planning to strike by firing three nurses, two of whom were new mothers. Mount Sinai unlawfully terminated these three labor and delivery nurses via voicemail. With a looming strike deadline, management tried to scapegoat nurses, citing false claims about their interference with the expensive travel nurses hired to replace them. They were not deterred and spoke up about this injustice. Mount Sinai previously unfairly disciplined 14 vocal nurse leaders leading up to the strike, some of whom spoke to the press after the active shooter incident, and others who spoke to colleagues about their union and contract negotiations.
NYSNA nurses walked out on Monday, Jan. 12, after management refused to make meaningful progress on core issues that nurses have been fighting for: safe patient staffing, healthcare benefits for nurses, and protections against workplace violence. Nurses are ready to settle a fair contract that prioritizes safety. However, management has responded by delaying progress, silencing vocal patient advocates, and publicly smearing nurses.
I am proud to stand with nurses because their fight is our fight. Every family that depends on a hospital bed, every senior waiting for care, every child brought into an emergency room is affected by these decisions. Safe staffing saves lives. Respecting healthcare workers strengthens our entire community.
I told the nurses I would walk with them when they needed to stand up for their rights.
This is me keeping my word, and I will continue to do so, on the picket line and beyond. Stand Tall New York State Nurses Association.
With Love Cynthia
thaBUMPblog 