NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� New York City for a third day Wednesday, with both sides seemingly preparing for a protracted walkout.
None of the three major hospital systems affected by the strike have met with union negotiators, though one said it plans to sit down with nurses Thursday.
Picketing nurses instead held a rally at a Bronx hospital in which their leaders took aim at hospital administrators who they say are mischaracterizing their contract demands.
Meanwhile, the hospital systems said they鈥檝e committed to keeping on the temporary nurses they brought on to fill work gaps at least through next week.
Here鈥檚 what you need to know about the the city has seen in decades:
Who’s walking out?
Roughly 15,000 nurses unionized under the New York State Nurses Association went on strike Monday morning at multiple campuses of three private, nonprofit hospital systems — Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian.
But hospital officials have suggested unionized nurses are not all in lockstep: Mount Sinai says an increasing number have opted to continue working rather than join the picket line. The hospital said they鈥檝e gone from 20% percent of unionized nurses still on staff Tuesday to 23% Wednesday.
Not every hospital run by the three health care systems is affected by the strike. Other private hospital systems in the city reached tentative deals with the union, averting walkouts at their facilities. City-run public hospitals are not affected by the strikes.
Where do negotiations stand?
A spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian said hospital administrators planned to meet with their union counterparts on Thursday evening.
The sides haven鈥檛 met since Sunday before the strike.
The union has accused the hospitals of failing to come to the bargaining table, while administrators have laid the blame on the nurses.
Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently.
What are nurses seeking?
The nurses鈥� demands vary by hospital, but the union says the top concerns for members are health care, safe staffing and workplace violence.
They say emergency rooms are overcrowded at too many hospitals, their workloads have become unmanageable and medical facilities need better security measures to keep patients and staff safe.
Erika Perrotta, an emergency room nurse at Montefiore, said at the rally Wednesday that many patients at the Bronx hospital鈥檚 ER are frequently left in the hallways because there are no rooms, making it hard for nurses to even move around the area quickly.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unacceptable,鈥� she told the crowd in front of the hospital.
Phiona Hunnigan-McFarlane, a nurse at Montefiore who also spoke at the rally, said she was punched to the ground by a troubled patient.
She said her injuries were so bad that she had to have her family take care of her while she was out of work for six months.
What are the hospitals saying?
The hospitals say they鈥檙e willing to provide nurses pay raises but that the union鈥檚 salary demands are simply too costly. They鈥檝e described them as 鈥渆xtreme鈥� and 鈥渆xorbitant.鈥�
Montefiore says the union鈥檚 proposal would raise the average salary of a nurse to $220,000 in three years while Mount Sinai says it would raise it to nearly $250,000. Unionized nurses鈥� salaries currently average around $163,000 a year at the three systems.
Montefiore, in response to the security issues raised at Wednesday鈥檚 rally, said its security protocol is 鈥渂est-in-class鈥� and includes weapons detection systems, armed New York City police officers stationed around-the-clock, internal hospital security personnel and wearable panic buttons issued to nurses.
Montefiore has also been critical of a union proposal it says would prevent nurses from being fired, even if they鈥檙e found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job.
Union officials fired back Wednesday, saying the hospital is 鈥渟tigmatizing鈥� those dealing with substance abuse issues while also 鈥渂latantly mischaracterizing鈥� a 鈥渘on-controversial measure鈥� already being implemented around the state.
How are patients being impacted?
City officials haven鈥檛 raised any problems so far in the early days of the walkout.
Hospitals have urged patients not to avoid getting care during the strike as they’ve brought on thousands of temporary, contract nurses to cover shifts of their regular nurses.
Ruth Villanueva was among the patients leaving Montefiore’s Bronx hospital as the striking nurses rallied Wednesday. The 75-year-old resident said she didn鈥檛 have any issues on her visit and that the hospital seemed to be operating as usual.
鈥淭hey’re still the same. Nothing that is coming out different,鈥� she said, adding that she believed nurses deserved better pay.
Mount Sinai said its emergency department has been managing a 25% increase in patient registrations in the early days of the strike, which hit during the .
The Greater New York Hospital Association, an industry group, has said hospitals canceled scheduled surgeries, transferred patients from more specialized units and increased discharges in the days leading up to the strike in order to streamline and reduce the number of patients they鈥檙e serving.
When was the last nurses’ strike?
Nurses last walked off the job . The strike impacted Mount Sinai and Montefiore and lasted three days.
It resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at the two hospital systems.
The pact also included provisions to address nurses鈥� staffing and workload concerns, though the union claims the hospitals are trying to walk back those guarantees in the current contract talks.
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Associated Press video journalist Joseph B. Frederick in New York contributed to this story.
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