Largest nurses strike in city history ongoing

Nearly 15,000 members of the New York State Nurses Association are striking after failing to reach new contract agreements at five privately-run New York City hospitals, following a months-long bargaining campaign and after the union reached agreements with numerous other hospitals in recent days to avoid strikes at those hospitals.

Nurses started striking early Monday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx and NewYork-Presbyterian in Manhattan. The union said it’s striking due to failing to make meaningful progress with management on core issues at these hospitals.

Key sticking points for the union in contract negotiations include staffing standards for nurses, workplace violence protections and health care benefits for nurses.

The union also said that management at “the richest hospitals in New York City” is threatening to radically cut or discontinue health benefits for nurses. The cuts would impact not only striking nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian and the three Mount Sinai locations, but also nearly 27,000 NYSNA nurses at more than 50 hospitals across the state who are enrolled in NYSNA’s health benefit plan.

Spokespersons for Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian separately told The Chief they are prepared to continue providing care during the strike. Montefiore Einstein did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Chief but said previously that it was preparing for the strike to last weeks.

'Greedy hospital management'

NYSNA failed to reach contract agreements with 12 hospitals where its contracts expired at the end of 2025 and delivered 10-day strike notices to the hospitals on Jan. 2. But the union struck agreements with management at seven hospitals before the Jan. 12 strike deadline

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a strike announcement that striking is “always a last resort” but that “greedy hospital management at wealthy private hospitals” has “given frontline nurses no other choice.”

“We continue to call on hospital management to come to the table and settle contracts that keep patients and nurses safe,” Hagans said. 

Hagans added that New Yorkers should not delay getting medical care during the union’s strike and that getting needed care is not crossing the union’s picket line.

Numerous labor leaders and politicians allied with NYSNA joined the union for a press conference on Monday morning across the street from NewYork-Presbyterian Millstein, including New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Comptroller Mark Levine and the borough presidents of Brooklyn and Manhattan. 

Mamdani told an excited crowd that the city will do everything it can to “ensure the sick and injured can continue to receive high-quality care” while “refusing to abandon” nurses.

“We are here today where we do not want to be, but where we must be, on the picket line marching for justice and fairness, standing in solidarity alongside those who have done so much for the people of this city,” Mamdani said. “New Yorkers have a right to quality health care, as do the nurses who provide that care.”

A spokesperson for Mount Sinai told The Chief in a statement that it is “ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses – and prepared to continue to provide safe patient care for as long as this strike lasts” and called NYSNA’s economic demands extreme.

“While we know a strike can be disruptive, we are prepared for a strike that could last an indefinite amount of time and have taken every step to best support our patients and employees during this strike,” said the Mount Sinai spokesperson. 

In a statement to The Chief, a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian said the strike is designed to “create disruption” and that NYSNA has “told nurses to walk away from the bedside,” but the hospital has taken the necessary steps for patients to continue to receive care. 

“We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment,” said the NewYork-Presbyterian spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that NewYork-Presbyterian has proposed significant wage increases, enhancements to employer-funded benefits and new measures that reflect the hospital’s “shared commitment to safe staffing and workplace safety.”

James, the state’s attorney general, said at the Jan. 12 press conference that safe staffing is critical and urged management to continue negotiating with NYSNA.

“I urge management to negotiate in good faith, to get back to the table, to negotiate a real deal, to respect these nurses, to see these nurses and to understand that these nurses are responsible for quality health care here in the state and in the city of New York,” James said. “They need a contract, they deserve a contract.”