NEW YORK - More than 10,000 nurses at three hospitals in the city are threatening to walk off the job on April 2.

Members of the New York State Nurses Associations rallied Monday on the Upper East Side.

They say hospitals are not hiring enough caregivers, forcing some nurses to watch over as many as 19 patients at a time.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson joined the demonstrators to show his support. 

"When you are put in a position every single day of whether or not you have to sit with an inhibated child, or hand glide or run to the ICU or be in the emergency room with unsafe staffing ratios, we are in a moment of crisis," Johnson said.

A strike would affect the Mount Sinai, Montefiore and New York Presbyterian hospital systems.

All three are members of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

In a statement, the organization called a potential strike extremely irresponsible.

It says a walkout would be costly and would endanger patients.