Mount Sinai nurses approve new contract ending monthlong strike

Mount Sinai's unionized nurses voted to ratify new three-year contracts, ending a monthlong walkout. CEO Brendan Carr said nurses will begin returning to work on Saturday.

Mount Sinai's unionized nurses have approved a new three-year contract, ending a monthlong walkout at the health system's New York City hospitals. The hospital system said an overwhelming majority of its unionized nurses on strike voted to ratify the pacts. Brendan Carr, Mount Sinai's CEO, said nurses will begin reporting back to work on Saturday and urged staff to treat one another with empathy and respect. The agreements follow negotiations focused on pay, staffing and safety concerns raised by nurses. Key details: - An overwhelming majority of Mount Sinai's unionized nurses voted to ratify new three-year contracts, according to the hospital system. - CEO Brendan Carr announced nurses will begin returning to work starting with the morning shift on Saturday. - The union said tentative deals with the hospital systems call for pay raises of more than 12% over three years and maintain nurses' health benefits with no additional out-of-pocket costs. - The contracts include new protections against workplace violence, specified protections for transgender and immigrant nurses and patients, and new safeguards regarding artificial intelligence in hospitals, according to the union. - Nurses began walking off the job on Jan. 12 and picketed in cold conditions; hospitals reported that organ transplants, cardiac surgeries and other complex procedures largely continued, using thousands of temporary nurses and by adjusting scheduled care. Summary: The ratification ends the monthlong Mount Sinai nurses' strike and will have nurses returning to work beginning Saturday. The contracts aim to address issues raised during talks, including pay, staffing levels and safety protections. Other hospital systems where nurses have been striking had not immediately commented.