New York nurses want a fair contract for themselves |
On the streets of New York City, ’tis the season of twinkling lights. Inside the pediatric emergency room where we work, it’s the time of coughs and high fevers.
The worst flu surge ever recorded in our state is upon us, heralded by the line of sick kids and worried parents who stream through our doors. Some we just give a little Tylenol to knock their fever down, but many need breathing treatments because the combo of influenza and winter cold has triggered their asthma. Others may require an IV to fend off dehydration. A few — children with weak immune systems, multiple organ transplants, or a history of intubations — are in real danger, and destined for the ICU. Of course, we take them all, even when we run out of blankets and, sometimes, beds.
When midnight struck last Thursday, the ball dropped in Times Square and 2026 began, that dissonance between celebration outside and struggle within our hospital’s walls took on a new dimension, as the contracts covering us and 20,000 other registered nurses expired.
This is a familiar tune, like the strains of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Three years ago, when we were just a few months into our........