Huntington, Syosset Nurses Still in Negotiations
By Hank Russell
After a series of marathon sessions, nurses at Northwell/Plainview reached a tentative agreement with the hospital group on January 9, thereby avoiding a strike. Meanwhile, 850 nurses at Northwell/Huntington and Northwell/Syosset are still looking for their demands to be met, or else they will go on the picket lines on January 12.
According to the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the Plainview nurses withdrew their strike notice and tentatively agreed to a new contract that protects safe patient care.
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to Northwell on the latest development. “Northwell Plainview Hospital is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with NYSNA (New York State Nurses Association),” a Northwell spokesperson. “From the start of negotiations, our goal has been to reach a fair contract that supports our valued nurses and upholds the high standard of care our patients and community trust.”
The spokesperson went on to say that the agreement “reaffirms our commitment of enabling a supportive work environment and provides our nurses with competitive compensation and benefits. We continue to negotiate with NYSNA at Huntington and Syosset Hospitals and remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached and we will continue to work diligently toward that goal.”
Whether the nurses at Huntington and Syosset will rescind their strike notices remains to be seen. As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, NYNSA called for Northwell to meet the following demands before the January 12 strike deadline: increased pay and benefits, safe patient care, better working conditions and increased staffing to lessen the nurses’ patient load. During a virtual press conference on January 8, Northwell/Huntington nurse Erin Gray said nurses are seeing up to 12 patients at a time.
The nurses at the Huntington and Syosset hospitals have been negotiating for months, according to NYSNA. “Striking is always a last resort, but nurses say they are prepared to strike if hospital administration gives them no other option,” the union said in its press release. “Long Island … nurses are united and willing to do whatever is necessary to protect their patients and their communities.”