Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital have voted to ratify a new three-year union contract they say includes safe staffing standards and protections against workplace violence.
Roughly 1,600 nurses at Methodist have been fighting for a fair contract since their old one expired on April 30, according to the New York State Nurses Association. The new agreement largely falls in line with the contract ratified by nurses at four private-sector hospitals — including NewYork-Presbyterian’s Manhattan locations — after a massive nurses’ strike earlier this year.
“Members came together, listed their demands, and stood strong for the tools and protections they need to keep themselves and their patients safe while delivering excellent care,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, in a statement. “We refuse to allow facilities to cut corners and balance their budgets on the backs of our members.”
The contract, according to NYSNA, includes improved enforceable safe staffing standards and new language that will prevent the hospital from rejecting arbitrators, which the union said “significantly delays the grievance process.”
Nurses brought the hospital to arbitration in 2024 over alleged understaffing in four different units, including labor and delivery and the neonatal intensive care unit, according to NYSNA, but the hospital moved to prevent the arbitrator from hearing arguments and has repeatedly delayed the scheduled arbitration hearing.
Arbitrators have helped secure safe staffing at Montefiore and other hospitals, and last year an arbitrator awarded $400,000 to nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital after investigating and confirming allegations of unsafe staffing levels there.
The contract also includes safeguards against AI in the workplace, including protections for nurses’ clinical judgements, and an annual 4% raise over the next three years.
“We’re pleased to have reached a fair and responsible contract agreement that reflects our tremendous respect for our nurses and the critical role they play as part of our outstanding care teams,” said a NewYork-Presbyterian spokesperson.
While protections against workplace violence were included in other NYSNA contracts at other hospitals, the issue emerged as a primary concern for nurses at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist earlier this year.
In January, a patient experiencing a mental health crisis at Methodist was shot and killed by police after he barred himself in his hospital room, along with another patient and a staff member.
Sharonda Green-Carter, a longtime RN at Methodist, told Brooklyn Paper in May that nurses at the hospital are facing rising levels of verbal and physical abuse and sexual assault, and are often denied time off to deal with the mental and physical repercussions of those attacks.
Another Methodist nurse, Veronica Carnero, said she was left with injuries to her wrist after a confused patient trying to leave an understaffed unit grabbed her arm and twisted it. Carnero’s supervisor told her to work through her shift despite her injuries and get checked out in the emergency room when she was done, she said.
The new contract includes improvements to the hospital’s emergency response team and weapons detection system, per NYSNA, as well as paid time off for nurses who are attacked at work.
“Nursing has always had its safety challenges, but recent incidents, including January’s lock-down because of an active shooter have shown us that we must prioritize the safety standards needed to keep our patients and ourselves safe,” said Aldrich Crespino, a registered nurse and NYSNA president at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist. “We’ve been determined to make sure management hears us loud and clear.”