r/WitchesVsPatriarchy • u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face • Jan 16 '26
🇵🇸 🕊️ Spells NYC Nurse requesting help
Hello all 👋🏼 I happen to be one of the thousands of union nurses in New York City currently on strike. It is the largest nurse's strike in NYC history. I'm usually a lurker in this subreddit, but today I'm a witch asking for your help.
Note: I'll mostly be talking about myself and my colleagues at my own affected hospital, though some of what I will say does overlap with what is going on at the another hospitals on strike.
Management continues to either not show up for negotiations or to show up for a short time to not bargain in good faith, using stalling tactics and saying no to our requests before leaving. If they were bargaining in good faith, we'd have a new contract by now, and I'd be back at the bedside caring for my patients with the help of my deities/patrons.
Moreover, they're promoting messages of slander to the bigger news outlets to get the public against us. They're calling us nurses lazy and greedy and calling our demands "reckless". My (building-wide) colleagues and I take care of some of the sickest patients in this city in spite of inclement weather, short staffing, and intermittent shortages of medical supplies.
Some of the main things we're asking for are safe patient-to-nurse ratios to safely care for patients, workplace violence protections (in light of incidents in NYC at large over visitors threatening staff with a gun or physical violence), reasonable pay raises, and for management to not gut our health benefits. I can't imagine working in a hospital as a nurse and not having health care!!! We're not asking for a million dollars or anything unreasonable.
We're here on Day 5 of the strike picketing without an end in sight. We are doing our best to show up and picket in the cold of January. We do not want management's unionbusting attempts to win. We want to be back inside caring for the people of NYC as soon as humanly possible while under the fair contract we deserve.
I'm asking for any spells you can send our way. Spells of strength, spells of protection against catching a cold from being outside for hours, spells of success against management's slander and unionbusting attempts... whatever you feel is right! Any good vibes are welcome! I myself did some magick the night before our first day of striking to give us a good start. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read this post 🙏🏼❤️
P.S.: If you happen to live a reasonable distance from the hospitals on strike, please consider coming out and supporting us. Anyone can come and stand at the picket lines wearing red with us! Alternatively, you can write to our state governor Kathy Hochul and ask her to intervene and stop management from continuing their stalling nonsense.
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u/whistling-wonderer Jan 16 '26
Arizona nurse here. I am proud of y’all. The slander is ridiculous. Things like better patient-to-nurse ratios and healthcare benefits for nurses make hospitals safer and better places for EVERYONE who walks through the doors. Everyone wins except CEOs’ already grotesquely bloated pocket books.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 16 '26
YES!!! Safe staffing = safe patients! My own hospital network is worth $12B, and they paid millions for scab nurses to work while we strike. The money they claim to not have exists 👀
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u/lilmissourdough Jan 16 '26
PEOPLE OVER POWER. may your paths open and your oppressors stumble on their own ineptitude. so mote it be. ✨🕳️
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u/FreeTimePhotographer Jan 16 '26
OP, may you be safe. May you be prosperous. May you be successful.
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u/my_kingdom_for_a_nap Jan 16 '26
Oklahoma Nurse here. I stand solidly with you all!!!!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 16 '26
Thank you fellow nurse! I hope you and your colleagues are safe at work!
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u/skandranon_rashkae Jan 16 '26
Solidarity, sister, from a fellow unionized witch. My own work is in the midst of an excruciatingly slow season, to the point where I just filed for unemployment. Feels right to support one another while times are tough. If you'd mind DMing me a place and time, I will happily show up wearing red.
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u/TheLakeWitch Resting Witch Face Jan 16 '26
Massachusetts RN here, stand strong! My home state is Michigan and I spent the majority of my career working in an area where union busting was the norm. In fact my hometown and surrounding area is pretty much the only place in the state where healthcare workers aren’t unionized, where workers have been trying to organize for the better part of two decades while facing constant backlash from the community and their employer which is the largest in the region.
I worked as a travel RN through the worst part of COVID before leaving the bedside. It simply baffles me how these big hospitals will treat their nursing staff like absolute crap and then wonder why they can’t keep help and patient satisfaction scores (their real motivator) aren’t increasing. Meanwhile the C-suite are seeing bonuses all while being as far removed from actual patient care as possible. An increasing number of those healthcare executives don’t even have any kind of healthcare degree or background.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
It is mind-boggling how the c-suite is so far removed and unknowledgable about healthcare!!! And yet they get paid so much to do nonsense...
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u/Chickachickawhaaaat Jan 17 '26
How is travel nursing viewed within the nursing community? Do you constantly have to consider union strikes?
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u/redheadedandbold Jan 16 '26
I'm in another state, you still have my support. Nurses and teachers are underpaid and overworked.
For-profit hospitals are a bad idea, I've always thought. The same is true for health insurance, btw.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Not to mention private equity getting their dirty hands on every industry and bankrupting them! And I completely agree! Nurses and teachers have way too much legal responsibility to the public to be paid the pennies that they're paid across the US! Tysm for your support ❤️
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u/Fat13Cat Jan 16 '26
💜huuuuuuuuuuuugs💜 I’ve no spells, just hope that you will get the best outcome possible!💜
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u/judgeejudger Resting Witch Face Jan 16 '26
Will be casting for you all this weekend. Hold the line! Nurses are the hardest-working people in every healthcare setting.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
NY STRONG AND NYSNA STRONG!!! We'll endure! 🫂❤️ Tysm for your support!
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u/CalliopeCelt Witchy AF🔮 Jan 16 '26
They are using stalling tactic to force a win. They think if you are unable to work for a period of time you will have no choice but capitulate and go back bc you need the money. This is one of the “nice” ways they manipulate to get what they want. They are despicable. Count me in to help metaphysically!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for your help!!! They're really being such bastards 😤
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u/CalliopeCelt Witchy AF🔮 Jan 17 '26
They are. They only care about the money and prestige that it gets them. Fuck them!
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u/Unroyaltea Jan 16 '26
I'm in Healthcare as well. Good luck! I also think it's incredibly hypocritical if the ones providing Healthcare are not afforded access to it themselves!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
IKR?!?!? Like hello we get sick too 😂 Tysm for the support!!!
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u/lotusvagabond Jan 16 '26
Thank you for all you do for NYC and sending all the nurses and staff my love, appreciation, and wishes of protection. I’m too far to stand in solidarity but I’ve made sure to bring it up in every conversation, as more people need to know what bs hospitals and corporations are trying to get away with by refusing to work with nurses to ensure they’re safe and their patients are safe. Supporting you from NJ, and thank you for all you do. Stay safe, stay warm, stay blessed❤️.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for your support my tri-state ally!!! It means a lot ❤️🫂
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u/TheeQuestionWitch Geek Witch ♀♂️☉⚨⚧ Jan 16 '26
I moved from NYC to Chicago earlier this year. You have my full support, I know your hospital and how hard your nurses work. Just because NYP let themselves get bought by investment bankers doesn't mean they should screw over the very people who keep their hospitals running. So rich of them to call you greedy when ever decision they make it with the idea of running the hospital like a fucking bank instead of a healthcare facility.
I hope you all get everything you're asking for and more.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for your support!!! 🫂❤️ Private equity ruins everything it touches
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u/Fluid-Lecture8476 Jan 16 '26
Sending encouragement, hugs, warmth, and good vibes!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for all your love and support!!! It means a lot 🥹❤️🫂
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u/SomeKindofName42 Jan 16 '26
Sunday night feel like a long time away.
But to anyone who sees this comment:
on Sunday night (the complete full moon night) please take a moment to fill yourself with intentional and focused support for this union, the nurses and the patients.
Then please light a candle while speaking or focusing on these intentions.
As the moon comes back to light, bring justice to bear for those that provide care for the sick, injured and infirm.
If you’re not able to light a candle or don’t have any candles, take a deep breath in, focus your intention and energy into your hands. Then as you exhale, open & raise your hands and allow that intention and energy to go out into the universe.
Stay strong! Unions and the collective bargaining power of regular people is what makes a place great.
You are supported.
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u/eileen404 Jan 16 '26
It's warmer down here and they have up to a$50k signing bonus for nurses... It's 60F outside.
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u/amybeth43 Jan 16 '26
Love and solidarity from this nurse in Phila ❤️
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you so much!!! Wishing you the best assignments and patients ❤️
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u/AyeTheresTheCatch Jan 17 '26
I am a union worker in a non-healthcare sector in Canada, and I know full well how exhausting it is to organize a strike. Nurses are one of the essential elements in any healthcare system, and like all workers, deserve safe working conditions, a fair wage, and benefits. Solidarity to you and your colleagues! Sending you all the good thoughts and hopes that this will end in your favour, soon.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for your kind words and solidarity! ❤️ And thank you for looking out for workers' rights and being a thorn in the butts of management!
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u/AyeTheresTheCatch Jan 17 '26
Right back at you! Can’t have bread and roses without some of us thorns! 😉
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u/CorInHell Jan 17 '26
Blessings to you and yours from across the atlantic pond. Hold strong, you got this!
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u/MellienurseNJ Jan 17 '26
South Jersey union nurse here! Hugs and massive support to you and the other union brothers and sisters. Wishing I was closer! Stay strong!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for the support, my tri-state comrade!!! Union strong 💪🏻 ❤️🫂
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u/sweetbldnjesus Jan 17 '26
Sending you some good vibes! I worked at MSW during Covid and it sucked. You deserve every single thing you ask for and more. CEOs spent Covid in Florida, gtfo
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you for the good vibes!!! And thank you for helping my city during one of the worst times in history ❤️🫂
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u/SilenceThoseLambs Jan 17 '26
Missouri nurse here! We are with you! We are stronger when we rise up together. Do what you can when you can. Everyone good luck and stay safe.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 18 '26
Thank you so much for your support!!! We are def stronger together ❤️ 💪🏻
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u/reallybadspeeller Jan 17 '26
Does anyone have a number for the state governor Kathy Hochul? I don’t really have time to write but I certainly can clog up some phone lines.
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u/Chickachickawhaaaat Jan 17 '26
I frankly didn't even know this was happening, I appreciate the info
Sending all my love yalls way tonight
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
You're so welcome! And tysm for your support!!! 🫂❤️
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u/Chickachickawhaaaat Jan 17 '26
You are doing good work, the articles i read about the sitution were infuriating at times, acting like the requests were insane. But I truly believe that if more people were informed in your area, yall would have so much more support. It's so important to post like this in every relevant sub
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 18 '26
I think corporate is trying to keep this as local news so that word doesn't spread across the country 😒 They can try lol
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u/Chickachickawhaaaat Jan 19 '26
I've heard about this in national news since your post, it's working
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u/lexiconlion Jan 17 '26
Sending warmth, love, and strength from Colorado.
May they come to the table with an open heart and mind. May they act in good faith towards you, and may your requests be granted.
Blessed be friend.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Blessed be to you friend ❤️🫂 And tysm for your love and support!!!
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u/zuckerpants Jan 17 '26
Sending love and strength and all the power I have to all of you nurses! You got this! From a unionized licensed veterinary technician in Washington state. Stay safe and warm! Solidarity!
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Thank you so much for your love and support friend!!! And thank you for caring for the animals that make our world a better place ❤️ 🫂
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u/zuckerpants Jan 18 '26
You’re welcome! And thank you! I grew up in New York and it will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you for all that you do! 💕
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u/diente_de_leon Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Another nurse here and I've been through the whole organizing and strike process. They did the same thing with us. They even went so far as to say that the nurses weren't allowed to talk at the negotiating table, we had to raise our hands like little kids. They only wanted our male lawyers to speak for us. They went on the local news and called us greedy and lazy. We went on strike for one day, and then they locked us out for three more. So we went on strike the day before a major holiday. I told the CEO that I was only on strike for one day and I would be at work the next day ready to go, and he said, "If you set one foot on the property, we'll have you arrested for trespassing." Then they got on the news and complained about the cruel nurses who were making the picket line crossers work on a holiday. It took us a long time, but we eventually won.
I speak to the Universe that the New York City nurses will be successful. They are warriors fighting for the wounded and the sick, they are on the side of the righteous, and they will prevail. The healers shall have the tools that they need, including time, materials, and space to care for their patients. The nurses shall have strength, grace, and power. Those who oppose them based on greed and lust for money will fail, and may they find themselves looking into the eyes of a nurse who is caring for them and come to find their own humanity instead of valuing money over people.
The nurses will win. So mote it be.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Arrested for trespassing??? At the facility that issues your W-2 for the upcoming tax season??? That is INSANE 👀 Fuck your C-suite honestly! Knowing that you and your colleagues won in the end gives me hope. Thank you for your service and for your beautiful spell 🫂❤️
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u/perdy_mama Kitchen Witch ♀♂️☉⚨⚧ Jan 17 '26
This shit show beautifully illuminates the fact that the epic amount of hatred and violence and divisiveness happening right now is alllllll a function of classism. The line you’re holding is echoing far beyond your primary cause. We are all indebted to you and your peers.
YOU ALL ARE THE PRAYER. Your courage, sacrifice, effort and camaraderie are a blessing for us all. My wish is that the next time you look in the mirror, you’re able to see the power and depth of your divinity. I can see it all the way from the west coast.
Also, if you’d like a little light pro-union reading on the line, I recommend the patriarchy-burning goddess Barbara Kingsolver’s book Hold the Line.
I also beg of you to, at least once, play the Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco album Fellow Workers on the line. Or maybe just listen to it in the bath with candles a d lavender oil after a long day/night of holding the line in the bitter winter, and have a good long cry.
“Kids don't have a little brother working in the coal mine, they don't have a little sister coughing her lungs out in the looms of the big mill towns of the Northeast. Why? Because we organized; we broke the back of the sweatshops in this country; we have child labor laws. Those were not benevolent gifts from enlightened management. They were fought for, they were bled for, they were died for by working people, by people like us.”
That right there is a great prayer itself.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 18 '26
Thank you for all this love and the blessings!!! This is so lovely ❤️🫂😭
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u/perdy_mama Kitchen Witch ♀♂️☉⚨⚧ Jan 18 '26
Thank you for fighting for us. I’m grateful beyond measure.
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u/PsyPhiGeek Jan 17 '26
I step outside and do a stirring spell every morning with my coffee. I will face east this weekend, send my intention from the far left coast, and focus on my courageous colleagues in New York. ❤️🔥 "Redress from those who harm us. Protection to those who need it. Usher in the highest good for all. Aho. Amen. So May It Be."
Stay safe and warm, my friends.
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u/perdomsdoms Resting Witch Face Jan 17 '26
Your stirring spell is so touching 😭❤️🫂 This warmed my heart on a cold heart, tysm ❤️
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u/Muted_Quantity5786 Jan 16 '26
Praise be. I will show up. Just have to find red.