What to Know
- The largest nurses strike in New York City history is underway, with nurses at three major hospitals walking off the job in a battle over safety, staffing and pay
- The strike affects The Mount Sinai Hospital and two of its satellite campuses, with picket lines forming. Also affected: NewYork-Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
- It comes during one of NYC’s worst flu seasons ever. The hospitals involved have been hiring temporary nurses to try and fill the labor gap during the walkout, and said in a statement during negotiations that they would “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.”
- The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.
- Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents like an incident last week, when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.
Thousands of nurses in three hospital systems in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend failed to yield breakthroughs in their contract disputes.
“Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” they shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at multiple hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems.
“And now, it’s how they’re treating us: They don’t want to give us a fair contract, and they don’t want to give us safe staffing, and now they’re trying to roll back on our benefits,” emergency department nurse Tristan Castillo said Monday outside Mount Sinai West.
About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). See the main sticking points here. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.
The strike involves private, nonprofit hospitals, not city-run ones. But the strike, which the union casts as lifesaving essential workers fighting hospital executives who make millions of dollars a year, could be a significant early test of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new administration.
The democratic socialist campaigned on a pro-worker platform and struck a similar note while visiting nurses on the NewYork-Presbyterian picket line Monday.
“These executives are not having difficulty making ends meet,” said Mamdani, who extolled nurses’ work and said they were seeking “dignity, respect and the fair pay and treatment that they deserve. They should settle for nothing less.”
Some other Democratic city and state politicians also visited striking nurses, while Gov. Kathy Hochul sent state health officials to the hospitals to keep watch over patient care. She called in a statement for the sides to negotiate a deal that “recognizes the essential work nurses do.”
The strike, which comes during a severe flu season, could potentially force the hospitals to transfer patients, cancel procedures or divert ambulances. It could also put a strain on city hospitals not involved in the contract dispute, as patients avoid the medical centers hit by the strike.
What do nurses want?
The nurses’ demands vary by hospital, but the major issues include staffing levels and workplace safety. The union says hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.
Nurses also want better security measures in the workplace, citing incidents such as an episode last week when a man with a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room and was then killed by police.
The union also wants limitations on hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence.
The hospitals say that they’ve been working to improve staffing levels but say that the union’s demands overall are too costly.
Mount Sinai said the union was making “extreme economic demands.” Montefiore spokesperson Joe Solmonese said the union was pressing ”$3.6 billion in reckless demands,” including exorbitant raises.
The union didn’t immediately respond to a question about its salary proposal and current wage levels. According to the hospitals, unionized registered nurses now average $165,000 a year at Montefiore, $162,000 at Mount Sinai, and $163,000 at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Columbia University Irving Medical Center; none of the numbers includes benefits.
Montefiore says the union’s asks would raise the average to $220,000 in three years. Mount Sinai says the average there would hit $275,000.
After the nurses gave notice Jan. 2 of the looming strike, the hospitals hired temporary nurses and vowed to “do whatever is necessary to minimize disruptions.” Mount Sinai said in a statement Monday it had lined up 1,400 temporary nurses.
New York-Presbyterian accused the union of staging a strike to “create disruption.”
“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,” the hospital said.
Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently. Several other private hospitals in and near New York City reached deals in recent days to avert a possible strike.
The three-day strike in 2023 resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at Mount Sinai and Montefiore. The pact also included staffing improvements, though the union and hospitals now disagree about how much progress has been made, or whether the hospitals are retreating from staffing guarantees.
The sides also dispute whether the hospitals are trying to reduce health benefits. Mount Sinai, for instance, says its proposals would cut costs without changing coverage.
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