Negotiators for Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West began the bargaining session by outlining how established safety processes at the Emergency Department entrance worked as planned during the disturbing and tragic event near The Mount Sinai Hospital on the night of Thursday, November 13. As had already been planned, hospital negotiators were joined by the Health System’s in-house security experts, including Rodney Miller, Vice President, Security and Protective Services for the Mount Sinai Health System; Pat Lamb, Chief of Ancillary and Support Services; and Richard Irizarry, Security Director at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West. They spoke about the response to the previous night’s incident, as well as the work they have done, and are continuing to do, to strengthen hospital security. Their presence mere hours after this tragic incident underscores the importance the system places on patient and staff safety.

The security experts outlined the timeline for installing the previously announced enhanced visitor management system across Mount Sinai hospitals, addressed questions, and offered analysis about other security enhancements that have the potential to strengthen safety. Mount Sinai’s CEO reiterated this, stating, “We are in the process of expanding both our enhanced visitor management and weapons detection programs. We expect that cutting-edge weapons-detection technology implementation will be completed at our major campuses in 2026.”

The security experts agreed to return to the next session to address additional questions.

The union made presentations regarding additional nurse staffing for specific ED units. Hospital negotiators reiterated that they are undertaking additional operational and financial analysis in order to determine the hospital’s response to the union’s demands.

The next bargaining sessions are scheduled for Friday, November 21, Monday, December 1, and Tuesday, December 9.

During the third bargaining session with negotiators from Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, NYSNA finally presented its complete economic proposals, including wages and hiring.  

After caucusing, the Mount Sinai bargaining team came back and said that they will need to take time to estimate the total cost of the proposals, but that after the initial review, the three-year cost appeared to be exceptionally high. Mount Sinai negotiators asked NYSNA if they had conducted a cost analysis of their proposal or estimated the number of new nurses that would need to be hired to meet their demands, and NYSNA’s bargaining team said they had not.  

The remainder of the session was spent with Mount Sinai negotiators asking questions about approximately 30 pages of proposals that NYSNA had presented at the previous session, on September 29, including proposals related to per diem employees, discipline history, and staffing.  

Mount Sinai negotiators concluded the session by stating they would conduct a thorough cost analysis of the comprehensive economic proposals and come prepared to ask additional questions at the next bargaining session.  

A majority of the fifth bargaining session focused on NYSNA’s workplace safety and security proposals. Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside negotiators reinforced the system’s commitment to providing a safe environment for everyone in its community. 

The session included presentations from some Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside nurses. Following the presentations, NYSNA requested that Mount Sinai negotiators discuss security procedures. The Mount Sinai bargaining team said that discussion would be more effectively led by security personnel, who as subject matter experts would be best positioned to answer their questions. Mount Sinai negotiators offered to arrange for a presentation from Mount Sinai Security, who would provide details at a future session about all of the measures taken to protect patients, staff, and visitors. 

Despite the fact that Mount Sinai’s bargaining team had not had a chance to fully assess the impacts of their proposals, NYSNA demanded that Mount Sinai negotiators either accept their workplace safety proposals or provide a counter. Mount Sinai negotiators reiterated the central importance of safety for everyone who comes through the Health System’s doors and said they would assess the complete impacts of the proposals, including cost impacts, before providing any response. 

During the afternoon session, NYSNA made several requests for additional information about security incidents, which Mount Sinai negotiators agreed to provide. The sides also discussed NYSNA proposals on health insurance and artificial intelligence. Mount Sinai negotiators also said they would be preparing a comprehensive presentation on the economic impacts of all of NYSNA’s proposals at a future session.  

The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Friday, November 14, and agreed to several additional bargaining dates in December. 

After two completed bargaining sessions, NYSNA has yet to present its core economic demands on wages to the Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West bargaining team.

While the union did present a range of other demands, it is delaying the process through its continued insistence that bargaining take place on hospital premises. Mount Sinai negotiators reiterated that this was not a viable option and again offered to meet at NYSNA’s headquarters or somewhere centrally located—as the parties have historically done.

The Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West bargaining team said it would begin to consider the proposals that were made, but underscored that it cannot respond fully until the union puts forward its complete economic proposals. NYSNA agreed to present these demands at our next meeting on Monday, October 13.

Both parties agreed to schedule additional bargaining sessions for the following dates: Monday, October 20; Friday, November 7; Friday, November 14; Friday, November 21; Monday, December 1; and Tuesday, December 9.

Negotiators for NYSNA and Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West focused the fourth bargaining session on reviewing proposals around a number of topics, including non-nursing duties, disciplinary history, and break coverage.  

Much of the conversation centered on questions about disciplinary history. NYSNA shared concerns about what they claimed was the perception of a punitive culture, but the facts show that this perception is unfounded. Mount Sinai negotiators summarized data that showed that over the past year there had only been two suspensions, and one termination, out of more than 2,000 nurses across the Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West campuses.   

During the discussion, NYSNA negotiators agreed with Mount Sinai negotiators that clinical errors should always be addressed, but then questioned why an employee failing to show up for a shift without providing advance notice warranted a final warning. Mount Sinai negotiators responded that Mount Sinai has a longstanding practice that a “no call, no show” warrants appropriate discipline, because ensuring adequate staffing is such a critical issue for patient care. In any event, Mount Sinai reiterated that nurses always have the ability to challenge the discipline through the established grievance procedure.  

NYSNA requested that the Mount Sinai bargaining team bring counterproposals for some of their proposals, specifically around discipline and the grievance process; however, the Mount Sinai negotiators said that the protections that NYSNA is requesting are already provided in the current collective bargaining agreement and Mount Sinai policies. 

The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Friday, November 7. 

Negotiators for Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West had their first official bargaining session with NYSNA at Mount Sinai’s offices on 42nd Street. At NYSNA’s request, a large part of the conversation focused on future bargaining locations.

NYSNA requested that sessions take place within the hospital. Mount Sinai negotiators explained that it was preferable for meetings to take place at a location that was not also used for patient care. In previous years, bargaining has routinely taken place at Mount Sinai offices on 42nd Street, so our request was that we continue to meet at this location, which offers multiple large conference rooms to accommodate bargaining and breakout spaces. Mount Sinai also has offered to meet at NYSNA’s headquarters in addition to 42nd Street, as the parties have done in previous rounds of negotiation.

Additionally, there is no reliable space at the hospitals where negotiations can take place without interfering with patient, student, or employee activities. For example, there were systemwide annual mass casualty exercises taking place that required the use of conference room facilities in hospitals across the system today.

There was no final determination made on future locations. The Union declined to provide any contract proposals at this time. We are set to meet again on Monday, September 29, and Monday, October 13.