Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders join striking nurses in New York City

America’s top elected socialists have joined striking nurses on the picket line in New York City during the largest strike of its kind the Big Apple has seen in decades.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont rallied with nurses Tuesday in Manhattan, which has reached its second week.

A contract impasse prompted roughly 15,000 nurses to not show up to work on Jan. 12. The nurses’ union said that it has held one bargaining session with each of the health systems impacted: Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Hundreds of nurses gathered in front of Mount Sinai West on the Upper West Side to hear from the democratic socialists, who urged hospital executives to return to the negotiating table. 

Mr. Sanders touted the unfairness of hospital CEO’s annual salaries — $26 million at NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore at $16 million and Mount Sinai at $5 million, he said — while a contract with better pay for nurses cannot be negotiated.

“The people of this country are sick and tired of the greed in this health care industry,” said Mr. Sanders, a Brooklyn native and a longtime democratic socialist who has been instrumental in dragging the Democratic Party further left. 

Mr. Mamdani, who joined nurses on the first day of the strike, added, “This is about safe working conditions. This is about a fair contract. This is about dignity. And today is day nine — day nine — of those demands, and I want you to know that wherever I go in New York City, I hear about the plight of our nurses.”

A “swift and urgent resolution” must be achieved at the negotiating table, said Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose decisive win in the mayor’s race sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party. 

The nurses’ contract negotiations remain at a standstill, and there are no plans so far to resume conversations.

The New York State Nurses Association’s bargaining requests are threefold: cover healthcare benefits for frontline nurses, better staffing numbers and protections from workplace violence.

“We are so fortunate to have the support of our community and allies, who truly energize our movement as we picket through the bitter cold,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement. “We need hospital management to understand that we are out here fighting for the safety of our patients and nurses, so that every patient can have a qualified nurse at their bedside. Hospital management must take action to maintain our health benefits, guarantee enforceable safe staffing, and make hospitals safer workplaces.” 

The hospitals continue call the union’s demands unreasonable and unrealistic. Mt. Sinai Health CEO Brendan Carr said Monday, “Despite our best efforts to negotiate, a near-term path to an agreement is very unlikely.”

“Now is your time of need, when we can assure that this is a city you don’t just work in, but a city you can also live in,” Mr. Mamdani said at Tuesday’s strike, his second appearance with the nurses.