You are reading

Midwives at Elmhurst Hospital Picket for Better Pay and Working Conditions

Assembly Member Catalina Cruz speaks alongside midwives at Elmhurst Hospital Wednesday (Photo: New York State Nurses Association)

July 31, 2021 By Michael Dorgan

Midwives at Elmhurst Hospital and dozens of their supporters picketed outside the facility Wednesday to demand better pay and working conditions while also sounding the alarm on patient safety.

The midwives, who help patients throughout the childbirth process at the hospital, were joined by some of their former patients, medical professionals and elected officials in front of the 79-01 Broadway building at around 7 a.m. The protest lasted around two hours, organizers said.

Assembly Members Catalina Cruz and Jessica González-Rojas as well as presumptive Council Members Tiffany Cabán and Shekar Krishnan were among those standing in solidarity with the midwives.

Picketers marched in front of the hospital carrying signs reading “respect nurses and our patients,” and “every patient deserves quality care.” One woman could be seen clutching her newborn child in her baby carrier.

The childbirth helpers said they have had one raise in the last 10 years and are forced to work overtime because the hospital is understaffed.

“We are drowning—seven of us doing the work of 15,” said Keeley McNamara, a midwife at the hospital. “We feel profoundly disrespected,” she said.

The event was organized by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), whose leaders say they have been trying to secure a unionized contract for the seven full-time midwives at the hospital for the last two years. The NYSNA said the midwives have been working without a contract during this period.

Margo Re, the chief midwife at Elmhurst Hospital, speaks at the protest Thursday (Photo: New York State Nurses Association)

The midwives said they worked long hours throughout the pandemic treating many mothers and babies who were infected with COVID-19 – yet they did not receive hazard pay. Elmhurst Hospital was considered the epicenter of the city’s fights against COVID-19 during the spring of 2020.

“I have personally done 16 to 24 hours [overtime] each week since the beginning of the pandemic and for less pay than my base salary,” said Margo Re, the chief midwife at Elmhurst Hospital.

She called on the operators of the hospital – The Mount Sinai Health System – to immediately enter into negotiations with them to hammer out a fair contract.

“It has reached a point where we cannot keep our good midwives or attract new midwives with the workload such as it is,” Re said. “I cannot take a day off without burdening my fellow midwives.”

Re said the heavy workload may also put patients at risk if not addressed quickly.

González-Rojas said that the midwives are working under “unacceptable” conditions and she was standing in solidarity with them in fighting for “pay equity.”

“They [midwives] are literally saving and supporting lives, so I demand that Mount Sinai do what’s right and negotiate in good faith,” González-Rojas said.

Cruz echoed those sentiments and said that the midwives are serving a community that is making the leaders of Mount Sinai “pretty rich right now.”

“We’re not asking for much. We’re simply asking that Mount Sinai give these midwives the dignity, the respect—and the pay— they deserve.”

A spokesperson for The Mount Sinai Health System told several news outlets that the organization is looking to resolve the issue soon.

“Since before the pandemic, we have been in constant communication with the union [NYSNA] and we are hopeful that we will reach a fair resolution in the near future,” the spokesperson said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

City debunks drone reports over LaGuardia after real emergency unfolds in Queens skies

As drone hysteria swept from New Jersey across the Hudson River to New York City on Thursday night, fueled by online reports of nearly a dozen large drones spotted over Queens, a genuine emergency unfolded in the skies above the borough.

The Port Authority and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a flight out of LaGuardia Airport earlier in the evening was forced to make an emergency landing at JFK Airport after a bird strike blew out an engine on the aircraft.

Op-ed: A new JFK Airport is a doorway to opportunity for local and diverse businesses

Dec. 12, 2024 By Elena Barcenas and Loycent Gordon

As successful small business owners here in Queens, we join all New Yorkers in looking forward to the transformation of JFK International Airport into the world-class airport our city deserves. But a new JFK will serve as more than a global gateway for travelers—for local and minority-owned businesses like ours, it will be a doorway to life-changing opportunities.

Former Jamaica cop pleads guilty to negligent homicide in Grand Central Parkway construction worker’s death: AG

Former NYPD Officer Tyler Paul pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court to criminally negligent homicide and assault for the killing of a highway construction worker while speeding on the Grand Central Parkway in April 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.

Paul, 25, of Jamaica, was off-duty and driving his personal car at a high rate of speed on the Grand Central Parkway on the morning of April 26, 2023. As he made a lane change from left to right, without signaling and while driving between lanes, Paul struck a vehicle in the right lane.