Contacts: Bryn Lloyd-Bollard | bryn.lloydbollard@1199.org | 732-606-5949
                   Stuart Marques | Stuart.marques@1199.org | 917-273-6194

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East has released the following statement in solidarity with NYSNA:

Today, 1199SEIU healthcare workers of every stripe—in hospitals and nursing homes, home care, pharmacies, community health clinics and every other caregiving setting—stand proudly with NYSNA nurses.  NYSNA members have reached groundbreaking agreements at many of New York’s top hospitals which serve as a model for our state and nation.  The remaining NY institutions where workers are on strike today must immediately follow suit.

1199SEIU expresses the following:

1. We fully support NYSNA’s efforts to win fair and reasonable contracts, including their right to strike.

2. We demand that Mt. Sinai and Montefiore, where NYSNA members are striking today, offer every term, condition, and dollar that management at other hospitals (including Presbyterian and Maimonides) just agreed to in their respective collective bargaining agreements with NYSNA. No nurse left behind!

3. If there are additional contractual proposals at either hospital which go over and above the contracts that NYSNA members have already ratified, we urge both parties to heed Governor Hochul’s call to resolve the outstanding issues through arbitration.

The labor movement in New York is making great strides to transform healthcare to achieve the highest standards and quality, and we are proud to be partners with NYSNA in this effort.  We also recognize the importance as a labor organization to build constructive relationships with healthcare employers in underserved communities, and we have seen this bear fruit for workers and patients at institutions such as Montefiore.  We’re hopeful that these strikes can be settled imminently in full recognition of nurses’ needs and management’s shared interest to minimize labor strife.

All healthcare workers deserve dignity, respect, fair pay, safe staffing, and a voice at work!

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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. We represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.