Socialist hero Bernie Sanders and devoted protégée Mayor Zohran Mamdani protested with striking Big Apple nurses Tuesday — taking aim at hospital CEOs’ big-bucks salaries.
The pair of Democratic socialists tore into the hospitals at odds with the New York State Nurses Association during the city’s biggest nursing strike in history, claiming the money poured into top honchos’ pay and and the traveling nurses needed to cover shifts during the work stoppage is being wasted and should go toward the frontline workers.
But the trio of hospitals targeted by the strike — NewYork Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore — have assailed the nurses’ demands as grossly unaffordable, with the two sides dueling over salary, health benefits, staffing and workplace safety.
Since Jan. 12, more than 15,000 nurses have been off the job.
The nurses’ union brought in Sanders and Hizzoner to rally the troops outside Mount Sinai West in Manhattan in below-freezing temperatures — with hordes of strikers then being packed into buses about an hour later to be driven off to the other two hospitals to continue demonstrating.
“Don’t tell me you can’t provide a good nurse staff ratio when you’re paying your CEO at New York Presbyterian $26 million a year,” Vermont Sen. Sanders boomed. “The CEO at Montefiore — $16 million a year. Mount Sinai — $5 million a year.
“Don’t tell me you can’t treat nurses with dignity when you’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on traveling nurses,” the former presidential candidate said.
Mamdani also ripped into the hospitals, arguing the strike is about safe working conditions and a fair contract.
“As Bernie said, it’s not about the money,” the 34-year-old lefty pol said.
“If it was, we would be talking about compensation packages. We’d be talking about the amount of money spent on traveling nurses. What this is in fact about is about recognizing the worth of each and every nurse in this city.”
An association representing the hospitals disputed the fiery remarks, calling the union leadership’s demands “flat-out unaffordable” in a statement.
“And not much has happened at the negotiating table to change that,” Greater New York Hospital Association President Ken Raske said.
“The hospital revenue picture is bleak, too. Senator Sanders has always strongly opposed funding cuts to hospitals, but despite his best efforts, the One Big Beautiful Bill cuts $8 billion from New York hospitals,” Raske said, in reference to President Trump’s signature legislation.
“This is our reality.”
NY-Presbyterian said in a Tuesday statement that it would be “unreasonable” to cave to NYSNA’s demands because the “healthcare landscape has never been more challenging and uncertain.”
The hospital claimed the nurses wants a 25% pay hike over the next three years — but a union rep countered that proposal has not been on the table for months.
The union argued numbers that the hospitals are citing are “inflated calculations” to distract from other pressing issues such as health benefits, staffing and safety.
“Striking nurses are ready and willing to come to the table and bargain whenever the mediators call,” the representative said. “We are willing to compromise on salaries, but not on hospital safety.”
After Sanders and Mamdani offered vocal support, nurses rallied for nearly an hour at Mount Sinai West before they boarded nine buses to picket at different hospitals.
About 100 nurses remained at the Midtown West medical facility to demonstrate.
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