Across New York City, 15,000 nurses are on strike due to the failure to reach an agreement before the deadline. This is the largest nurses’ strike in the history of New York City.
Hospitals impacted by the strike include Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai Hospital, Montefiore Hospital, Mount Sinai West, and New York Presbyterian Hospital. The contract expired on Dec. 31, 2025. The union wants safer working conditions and higher pay for members.
NYC Leadership Response to Nurse Strike
New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani released a statement Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026:
“The safety and wellbeing of this city is my top priority and ensuring New Yorkers have the care they need is critical, especially during flu season. The city’s Emergency Management team, FDNY, health department, public hospital system, and my senior leadership team are in constant communication and closely monitoring the situation. We are prepared for any and all scenarios, including a strike. No New Yorker should have to fear losing access to health care — and no nurse should be asked to accept less pay, fewer benefits or less dignity for doing lifesaving work. Our nurses kept this city alive through it s hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable. I’m relieved that most hospitals have reached an agreement and urge the remaining parties to stay at the table and reach a deal that both honors our nurses and keeps our hospitals open.”
Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, declared a state of emergency announcing the strike “could jeopardize the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and patients.” Nancy Hagans with the New York State Nurses Association is concerned due to the number of hospitalizations across the state due to the flu and the need for nurses.
Hagans said, “These wealthy hospitals are pushing to cut health benefits for nurses who put their own health on the line to care for New Yorkers during this historic flu surge.”
Nurse practitioner Dania Munoz reported, “Violence is on the rise in our institutions and in our units. Nurses at the bedside, and not just nurses, doctors as well. Techs are getting hurt by patients.”
Nurses Want Safety
Last Thursday, an armed patient confronted medical staff at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Police shot and killed the armed patient.
Regardless of the strike, hospitals have vowed to remain open. Mount Sinai released a statement on Sunday, “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 in the event NYSNA forces our nurses to walk away from the bedside for the second time in three years.”
Early Monday morning, nurses were bundled up outside Mount Sinai Hospital in Harlem chanting, “the nurses united will never be defeated.”
Emergency room nurse, Donovan Carey stated, “I was on strike three years ago, and it sucks to be back outside, having to fight for health care, having to fight to protect my patients, having to fight to be protected myself.”
Nurses are demanding metal detectors at each hospital entrance in an effort to help prevent shootings. “Hospitals are to be places of healing, not fear,” Carey said. They are also pushing for clearer policies concerning immigration agents’ access to hospitals.
Dr. Brendan Carr, CEO of Mount Sinai Health System sent out a memo Sunday, “The planning and personnel costs required to responsibly run our hospitals for what we anticipate could be a long strike are substantial, but we are are prepared to maintain these operations.”
All three Northwell hospitals on Long Island reached an agreement, according to reports from ABC 7.
By Jeanette Vietti
Sources:
ABC7: Thousands of union nurses at NYC hospitals go on strike
ABC News: Largest nursing strike in New York City history looming as contract negotiations continue
Gothamist: Nearly 15K nurses begin strike at hospitals in Manhattan
Featured Image Courtesy of Charles’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
