Public sector nurses protest in Lower Manhattan with contract set to expire in March
NEW YORK -- Thousands of New York City nurses could be without a contract in a matter of weeks.
Public sector nurses marched to the corporate headquarters of New York City Health + Hospitals in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday.
The nurses' union says the city has refused to sit at the negotiating table with their current contract set to expire March 2.
Unlike private sector nurses, city workers are not allowed to strike.
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"Our patients suffer a lot from understaffing, unsafe staffing, and we need that to change now," said Sonia Lawrence, a nurse at Lincoln Hospital.
"We have agency nurses who are making three times the salary of regular nurses who have given everything," said Sean Petty, a pediatric emergency room nurse at Jacobi Medical Center.
This contract covers 9,000 nurses at hospitals, along with mayoral nurses who work alongside first responders like police and firefighters.