Approximately 15,000 nurses across three of New York City's major hospital systems have commenced strike action, walking off the job from 6 am on Monday, 12 January 2026. The industrial action follows a collapse in weekend negotiations over longstanding contract disputes.
Hospitals Brace for Impact During Flu Crisis
The timing of the walkouts presents a critical challenge, coinciding with a severe flu season. The hospitals affected – The Mount Sinai Hospital (including two satellite campuses), NewYork-Presbyterian, and the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx – now face the potential need to transfer patients, cancel non-urgent procedures, and divert ambulances to other facilities.
This could place significant strain on other city hospitals not involved in the dispute, as patients seek to avoid the struck medical centres. In a bid to maintain services, the involved hospitals have been hiring temporary nurses. Montefiore issued a statement attempting to reassure the public that appointments would be honoured, while the hospital group collectively promised to "do whatever is necessary to minimise disruptions."
Core Demands: Staffing, Safety, and AI Limits
While negotiations are being conducted independently at each medical centre, the nurses' core demands, represented by the New York State Nurses Association, are unified. The primary issues are:
- Staffing Levels: The union contends that nurses are routinely given unmanageable workloads, a point of contention since the last major strike in 2023. That three-day action resulted in a 19% pay rise over three years and promised staffing improvements, though the two sides now disagree on whether those guarantees have been met.
- Workplace Safety: Nurses are demanding better security measures, a concern sharply highlighted by a recent incident where a man barricaded himself in a Brooklyn hospital room with a sharp object before being killed by police.
- Artificial Intelligence: The union is also seeking limitations on how hospitals can implement AI tools in clinical settings.
The non-profit hospitals involved argue they have been working to improve staffing but say the union's overall demands are financially unsustainable.
Political Pressure and Historical Context
Both New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had expressed deep concern in the lead-up to the strike. As the deadline loomed, Mayor Mamdani urged continued negotiation to reach a deal that "both honours our nurses and keeps our hospitals open."
"Our nurses kept this city alive through its hardest moments. Their value is not negotiable," Mamdani stated. The current nurses strike is the largest since the 2023 action, which involved Mount Sinai and Montefiore and lasted three days. Several other hospitals in the city and suburbs managed to reach eleventh-hour deals in recent days to avert joining the simultaneous walkouts.
