need to know
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Nearly 15,000 nurses at 3 major New York City hospitals go on strike
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Nurses say they’re striking for better wages, safe staffing, fully funded benefits and stronger workplace safety protections
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Montefiore Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital have been contacted for comment
A historic strike is underway in New York City on Monday, January 12, with nearly 15,000 nurses in Manhattan and the Bronx going on strike.
“Strikes are always a last resort, but greedy hospital management by wealthy private hospitals leaves frontline nurses with no choice,” New York State Nursing Association President Nancy Hagens said in a video statement shared with PEOPLE.
“The key sticking points are providing safe staffing for our patients, preventing workplace violence, and delivering health care to frontline nurses,” Hagens said. The union is also demanding higher wages. new york times.
The union’s demands come amid an increase in the number of nurses reporting experiencing or witnessing violence at work. According to a 2023 National Nurses United survey, more than 80% of nurses experienced violence from patients and their families in the last year.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty
Nurses on a picket line in New York City on January 12, 2026.
Three major health care systems were affected by the strike: Montefiore, NewYork-Presbyterian and Mount Sinai. At the start of the strike at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood with nurses, wearing a red scarf emblazoned with the NYSNA logo.
“Nurses have been on the job during every of our city’s darkest times. Their value is non-negotiable,” Mamdani said in a video shared to the New York State Nurses Association Facebook page. “We know that during 9/11, it was nurses who cared for the wounded. We know that during a global pandemic, it was nurses who sacrificed their own health to work. Even when we didn’t provide them with protective equipment, they showed up… They are there for us.”
However, representatives of hospital groups say the current issues go beyond health care and workplace violence. Joe Solmonese, senior vice president of strategic communications at Montefiore, said in a statement to PEOPLE, “NYSNA leaders continue to double down on their reckless $3.6 billion demands, including a nearly 40% wage increase, and their disturbing proposals, such as requiring that nurses found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol on the job cannot be fired. We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing safe and seamless care, no matter how long the strike may last.”
A representative from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital tells PEOPLE, “While NYSNA has asked nurses to leave the bedside, we remain focused on our patients and their care. This strike was intended to cause disruption, but we have taken the necessary steps so that our patients can continue to receive the care they trust us to provide. Our patients should visit nyp.org/nursingupdate for important updates and other additional information. We are prepared to continue negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our “nurses” and the critical role they play, and in recognition of the challenging realities of today’s health care environment, we are proposing a substantial nurse salary increase to ensure our nurses are the highest paid nurses in the city, as well as an increase in their excellent employer-sponsored benefits and new measures that reflect our shared commitment to safe staffing and workplace safety. “
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke on behalf of nurses on the first day of the strike on January 12, 2026.
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A Mount Sinai representative tells PEOPLE, “It is unfortunate that NYSNA has decided to continue the strike while refusing to back down from its extreme financial demands, which we cannot agree to. We have 1,400 qualified professional nurses on hand and are ready to continue providing safe patient care while the strike continues.”
The statement continued: “Our patients are our top priority and we are ready to continue providing quality care to our communities no matter how long the strike lasts. We have recruited 1,000 A number of qualified specialist institutional nurses have joined our nursing teams, many of whom have been integrated into various departments across our hospitals. All of our hospitals and emergency departments will remain open and we expect that most appointments will go ahead as planned. There has been tremendous coordination across our network to manage discharges and ensure we are ready for the start of the strike, but we are prepared for it to continue indefinitely and have taken every step to provide the best possible support to our patients and staff during this strike.”
Addressing the crowd, Mamdani called the three hospital groups “the richest in the entire city” and said there was “no shortage of wealth in the healthcare sector, especially in the three private hospital groups where nurses are on strike”.
“The hospital executives who run these hospitals, these hard-working nurses are demanding what they deserve, and these executives have no difficulty making ends meet,” he continued.
The mayor pointed to the multimillion-dollar salary of the health group’s CEO and said, “New York City will do everything it can to ensure that the sick and injured continue to receive high-quality care, and we will do so while refusing to abandon those who have repeatedly refused to abandon us.”
Mamdani said the parties needed to return to negotiations and “bargain in good faith,” calling on them to reach an agreement that “allows nurses who work in this city to live in this city.”
Read the original article on People