(The Center Square) — Thousands of nurses at several major New York City medical centers went on strike Monday after contract negotiations between union leaders and the hospitals broke down over the weekend.
The New York State Nurses Association, which represents 15,000 unionized nurses at Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals, hit the picket lines shortly after 6 a.m. after union leaders say talks with hospital officials failed to make “meaningful progress” on core demands ranging from improved pay and health care benefits to staffing levels and workplace violence protections.
“Unfortunately, greedy hospital executives have decided to put profits above safe patient care and force nurses out on strike when we would rather be at the bedsides of our patients. Hospital management refuses to address our most important issues — patient and nurse safety,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement. “It is shameful that the city’s richest hospitals refuse to continue healthcare benefits for frontline nurses, refuse to staff safely for our patients, and refuse to protect us from workplace violence. Nurses do not want to strike, but our bosses have forced us out on strike.”
Representatives for the medical centers say NYSNA’s proposed salary and benefit packages would drive up hospital costs by billions of dollars in the coming years as they face financial pressures over cuts in Medicaid funding and other federal support.
“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 prepared to maintain these operations,” Brendan G. Car, Mount Sinai’s CEO, said in a statement Sunday night. “We have explained to NYSNA that given the extreme financial pressures facing health care, we have a fixed budget that can be used either for nurse wages and benefits or to prepare and operate during a strike.”
The union’s existing contract expired at the end of 2025 and both sides have been meeting to hammer out details of a new collective bargaining agreement. NYSNA’s bargaining teams say the union wants higher pay and safer working conditions for its members.
Mount Sinai issued another statement on Monday, saying all of its hospitals remain open for patient care and that it will work to ensure that medical care isn’t compromised as a result of the strike.
“Please know that most appointments and procedures will not be impacted; if an appointment is impacted by the strike, your provider will contact you directly with any needed changes,” the statement said. “Our patients are our top priority, now and always.”
On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a “disaster emergency” that will allow hospitals affected by the strike to bring in doctors and nurses from other states and Canada to fill the anticipated gaps in medical care.
Hochul said the state Department of Health will have staff on site at all affected hospitals for the duration of the strike “to ensure patient safety and continuity of care.”
“My top priority is protecting patients and ensuring they can access the care they need,” Hochul said in a statement. “At the same time, we must reach an agreement that recognizes the essential work nurses do every day on the front lines of our healthcare system.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a statement Sunday night, saying his administration and the city’s Emergency Management team are “in constant communication and closely monitoring the situation.”
“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,” Mamdani said. “Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable.”
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New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said the Teamsters are “united” in solidarity with the striking nurses and criticized hospitals for refusing to negotiate in good faith over a new contract.
“These nurses are dedicated professionals who provide quality patient care under unimaginable conditions day in and day out,” Cilento said in a statement. “It is unfathomable that these hospitals show such complete disregard for the pressure under which these nurses work and for all they do for their patients each day.”