Hundreds of NYSNA members march on Gov. Hochul’s Manhattan office

Max White/ The Chief

Max White/ The Chief

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Chants of “Kathy Hochul, shame on you” and “vote her out” rang out in Midtown on Feb. 2 as a sea of nurses clad in red marched from Grand Central Terminal to the governor’s Manhattan office to demand that Governor Kathy Hochul aid the nearly 15,000 nurses on strike in New York City.

Hundreds of members of the New York State Nurses Association joined the march, not officially endorsed by the union, in freezing weather, complete with plenty of noisemakers and two nurses dressed up as characters from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as the union enters its fourth week striking at three major private hospital systems in the city: Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian. 

Nurses stopped in front of the governor’s office and delivered a letter to a Hochul aide as they demanded Hochul stop extending an executive order allowing out-of-state clinicians to work in Manhattan, the Bronx, Nassau County and neighboring counties, making room for hospitals to replace striking nurses. Hochul first issued the order, Executive Order 56, on Jan. 9, just before the strike, declaring a state disaster emergency due to imminent “severe staffing shortages.” 

Nurses have said this order is assisting the hospital executives over the thousands of nurses on strike. They also called for Hochul to “put real pressure” on hospital executives to “get to the table” and give the union a “fair contract.” The largest nursing strike in the city’s history has dragged on since Jan. 12, as nurses call for safe staffing standards, workplace violence protections and health care benefits. 

The three hospital systems facing striking nurses released a joint statement on Jan. 31 that said they had made a proposal that continues healthcare and benefits and provides annual wage increases. It added that they are looking at the rest of the union’s proposals so they can offer a response to end the strike.

Beth Loudin, a nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian and a NYSNA leader, told The Chief that she thinks Hochul has been less supportive of the strike because Hochul is “friends with the executives” and wants to continue those relationships because “they’re profitable for her.”

“I think (Hochul) sees this as a private sector fight and that the public sector does not need to be involved. But we know that our hospitals are funded with private and public money,” Loudin said. “She’s ignoring us.”

While high-profile city and state politicians like Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York State Attorney General Letitia James have visibly supported NYSNA by joining the picket line, Hochul, a moderate Democrat up for reelection this year, has been more restrained.

A spokesperson for Hochul told The Chief in an email that the governor is “putting public health first” and that her administration has for weeks worked to “help resolve the strike and facilitate negotiations that have already delivered results, including preserving nurses’ health benefits.”

“The Governor urges all parties to reach a final agreement that recognizes the essential role nurses play in caring for New Yorkers,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson for Hochul did not respond to specific questions about the strike and did not say whether the governor would extend Executive Order 56.

As NYSNA members continue striking, some go without healthcare access and pay, although many have started collecting unemployment benefits. Loudin said she has an almost 1-year-old baby who needs his annual checkup and vaccines, which the strike is delaying.

“This is the cost that we’re paying,” she said. “We want to get back, we want to care for our patients, it’s always been about that. It’s never been about money; it’s all about nurse safety, patient safety and health care benefits.”