Nursing Strike Looms At Montefiore New Rochelle

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Patients at Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital are starting to be transferred ahead of a strike by nurses which is set to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Kathy Santoiemma, the New Rochelle leader for the New York State Nurses Association, said the hospital decided to close its emergency room and transport patients out of the hospital.

"We announced out intention to strike almost 10 days ago," she said," and this is the best, safest plan Montefiore can come up with for our community?"

The nurses association said it began hearing Sunday night from nurses working in the hospital about the planned changes in preparation for the strike. Two patients were transferred from the hospital and the emergency department stopped accepting patients, the association said in a news release.

In a statement, Marcos Crespo, senior vice president of community affairs for Montefiore Medicine, said hospital leadership offered the nurses more than 7 percent in wage increases, medical expenses for retired nurses, tuition insurance, no-employee-contribution health insurance and funding for the pension fund.

Crespo said the hospital will remain open but will enact contingency plans for the strike, including the relocation of patients to other facilities.

The union is asking for safer working conditions, better salaries and better benefits, the Journal News reported.

One issue is reducing the number of patients nurses care for at any given time.

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