An estimated 15,000 nurses across three hospital systems in New York went on strike on Monday.
Promptly at 6 a.m. ET, nurses began walking off the job at The Mount Sinai Hospital and two satellite campuses. New York – Presbyterian and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
The hospital systems are negotiating separately with the union, however those negotiations fell apart over the weekend and contract disputes remain unresolved.
Nurses are demanding various things, but the major problems include staffing levels and safety. The union is also saying that hospitals have given nurses uncontrollable work loads.
They’re also demanding that security measures be optimized and that hospitals place limits on the use of artificial intelligence.
Nonprofit hospitals that are undergoing negotiations say that while they’re working to improve staffing levels, some of the other demands would cost too much to implement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and newly-inaugurated Mayor Zohran Mamdani were concerned about the strike as the deadline approached and Mamdani urged all sides of the negotiations to reach a deal that would show respect for nurses while also keeping hospitals operational.
“Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable,” Mamdani said.
In 2023, nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore went on strike, but it only lasted three days. The strike was effective and a deal that increased pay by 19% over three years was reached. Staffing issues were also improved, but the union disagrees about the level of progress that has been made or whether the hospitals slowly reversed course on certain guarantees.
