Thousands of nurses at New York City’s largest hospitals are preparing for a potential strike on Monday, raising concerns over patient care during a severe flu season. Nearly 15,000 nurses could walk off the job if a deal is not reached, making it the largest nurses’ strike in the city’s history, according to Nancy Hagans, president of the New York State Nurses Association. Last month, a vast majority of the union’s members voted to authorize the strike, and as of Sunday morning, little progress had been made at the bargaining table.
The walkout could affect major private hospitals including Mount Sinai in Manhattan, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The labor dispute mirrors a similar strike in 2023, when nurses forced hospitals to transfer some patients, divert ambulances, and postpone non-emergency surgeries. Staffing levels remain a central issue, with nurses saying the hospitals are failing to provide manageable workloads and, in some cases, are rolling back previous commitments. This year, the union is also seeking stronger workplace security measures and safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence in hospitals, concerns amplified by recent incidents in which a gunman entered Mount Sinai and another man barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room.
Hospital officials contend that staffing has improved since 2023 and say that meeting all of the union’s demands would be costly. Still, nurses argue that patient care must remain the priority. “My hospital tries to cut corners on staffing every day, and then they try to fight historic gains we made three years ago,” said Sophie Boland, a pediatric intensive care nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian. In preparation for the strike, Mount Sinai has hired over 1,000 temporary nurses and conducted drills across its main 1,100-bed facility and two 500-bed affiliates, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West. NewYork-Presbyterian has also arranged temporary staff, although some patients may need to be moved or advised to transfer, and Montefiore assured patients that appointments would continue as scheduled. Hagans emphasized that patients should not delay seeking care despite the strike threat, while Governor Kathy Hochul urged both sides to return to the negotiating table to avoid disruptions.
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The upcoming walkout echoes the three-day strike in 2023 at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, when nurses highlighted the exhausting conditions during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Temporary nurses and administrators with clinical backgrounds filled in during that period, but patients still experienced longer waits and understaffed wards. The strike concluded with a three-year agreement that included 19% raises and staffing improvements, including extra pay for nurses required to work short-handed. Now, union leaders say hospitals are falling short of those commitments. At Montefiore, nurses still face “hallway patients,” despite prior assurances to reduce emergency room wait times. Hospital officials maintain that improvements have been made, including a 35% reduction in time from emergency admission to assignment to a clinical bed, and report significant reductions in nurse vacancy rates. Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center have also added hundreds of nursing positions.
With nearly 15,000 nurses potentially striking, the dispute underscores ongoing tensions between medical staff and hospital leadership over staffing, workplace safety, and labor rights. The outcome could have a significant impact on patient care during the flu season while highlighting broader challenges in maintaining adequate staffing and safety standards in some of the nation’s busiest healthcare facilities.