Around 1,000 Filipino nurses were affected by the strike conducted by nurses in two New York hospitals.
More than 7,000 nurses from the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan held protests after the hospital management and the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) did not heed their call for additional manpower.
The protests were held at 6AM on Monday and affected the operations of the health facility.
In a GMA News report, Lorena Vivas, an NYSNA executive committee member for the Mount Sinai Hospital, said that the management did not agree to the staffing implementation, which led to a deadlock in the negotiations.
“Ayaw nila sa staffing implementation. ‘Yan ang problema namin. This is not about the money. What this is about is safe staffing. Ang gusto namin ma-ensure na magtatrabaho kami na sapat ang staff kasi ang nangyayari ngayon ang vacancy namin 550.Ano ang ibig sabihin niyan?,” Vivas said.
Vivas said that some nurses were left to work 24 hours to compensate for the lack of manpower.
“’Pag nasa ICU ka, legally dalawa lang dapat ang inaalagaan mo. Eh naging apat. On top of that, kulang ang staff. Karamihan sa amin nagtatrabaho ng 24 hours kasi naaawa kami sa maiiwan na shift. Sa emergency room kapag nagpunta kayo doon, 20 pasyente per nurse. Paano mo maaalagaan ‘yun?” she added.
Another health worker, Pilar Liwanag, said that patients are now being affected by the labor issue.
“Kasi taga-special unit kami so galing kami ng ICU. Ang ratio kasi usually, one nurse is to two patients eh. Ngayon triple, quadruple. Patients are very very sick so how can you manage four very very sick patients kung isa ka lang? Eh dapat two patient lang…We don’t want to compromise patient safety. At stake safety ng license namin,” Liwanag said.
The Philippine Consulate General in New York hopes that the dispute will be resolved.
“The Philippine Consulate General in New York supports the clamor of Filipino-American nurses, employed in Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, for better wages and working conditions,”’the consulate said.
