NYC nurses walk off the job in historic strike, impacting hospitals across the city
The strike will kick off in Manhattan and is expected to expand to hospitals in the Bronx, including Montefiore Medical Center in Norwood.
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Nurses across New York City are walking off the job this morning in what could become the largest nursing strike in city history.
The strike will kick off in Manhattan and is expected to expand to hospitals in the Bronx, including Montefiore Medical Center in Norwood. More than 15,000 nurses are expected to participate after months of failed contract negotiations.
Nurses say they are refusing to clock in as their contract with a dozen private hospitals expired in December and talks have since stalled. The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) says most hospitals have come to a new agreement, but Montefiore, NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai, and Mount Sinai West are still seeking to cut healthcare benefits and refusing to meet demands.
Workplace violence has also emerged as a major concern, following a recent active shooter incident at Mount Sinai Hospital and a police-involved shooting at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacted to the strike in a post on X, writing:
“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.”
The mayor spoke outside NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in support of the strike.
"Their value is not negotiable, and their worth is not up for debate," he said, adding that nurses "showed up" during the global pandemic and in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has stationed Department of Health staff at all affected hospitals to help support patient care during the strike.
Montefiore says meeting the union’s demands would cost $3.6 billion and confirms it has secured 1,000 temporary nurses to maintain patient services.
In a statement the hospital told News 12 the union is asking for "troubling proposals like demanding that a nurse not be terminated if found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job."
Mount Sinai says in a statement that since "NYSNA decided to move forward with its strike while refusing to move on from its extreme economic demands, which we cannot agree to, but we are ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses ."
This is a developing story.
