Thousands of nurses at several major New York City hospitals went on strike Monday after contract talks over the weekend failed to reach an agreement.
The work stoppage began at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and its satellite campuses, as well as at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and NewYork-Presbyterian. Picket lines formed outside affected locations.
Approximately 15,000 nurses are participating in the strike, according to the New York State Nurses Association.
The union cited staffing shortages and safety concerns as key issues. Nurses say current conditions leave them with unmanageable workloads and inadequate security measures. The union also raised concerns about hospitals’ increasing use of artificial intelligence.
In one cited incident, a man carrying a sharp object barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room last week and was later killed by police.
Each hospital is negotiating separately with the union. Other city hospitals reached agreements recently and avoided walkouts.
The hospitals involved have hired temporary nurses to mitigate staffing shortages during the strike. In a statement, Montefiore said appointments would proceed as scheduled and that measures were in place to minimize disruptions.
The strike comes amid a severe flu season that could increase pressure on unaffected facilities as patients seek care elsewhere.
Hospital officials said they had made efforts to improve staffing but viewed the union’s broader demands as financially unsustainable.
Nurses authorized the strike last month.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani both expressed concern about the labor dispute in recent days. As the strike approached, Mamdani urged continued talks to reach an agreement that “both honors our nurses and keeps our hospitals open.”
“Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable,” Mamdani said.
The last major nursing strike in the city occurred in 2023 at Mount Sinai and Montefiore. That walkout lasted three days and resulted in a contract with a 19% pay increase over three years and staffing commitments. The union and hospitals now differ over the extent to which those staffing goals have been met.
