Roughly 15,000 nurses negotiating contracts for three major New York City hospital systems returned to the bargaining table Thursday, marking the 11th day of a strike that has tested the nation’s largest urban healthcare providers. The New York State Nurses Association said the union and hospital administrators for Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian resumed talks aimed at ending what is already the city’s largest nursing walkout in decades.
The strike has forced the three hospital systems to deploy thousands of temporary workers to maintain operations. Negotiations involve competing positions on health benefits, staffing levels, workplace safety protections, and compensation.
The New York State Nurses Association said the union remains committed to bargaining daily. In a statement Thursday morning, the union said, “Nurses stand ready to bargain to reach fair contracts and end the strike. Nurses will continue to picket and strike until tentative agreements are reached with the hospitals.”
Core Dispute Over Wages and Benefits
Nurses are seeking to protect their health care benefits and secure contract provisions addressing staffing levels and safety against workplace violence. The union has accused hospitals of attempting to shift costs to workers.
The hospital systems say the union is seeking unrealistic and unaffordable pay raises. Hospitals maintain they aren’t proposing to cut nurses’ health benefits, though this point remains contested between the two sides.
Political Pressure and Strike Scope
Prior negotiations last week saw the union hold one bargaining session with each hospital system, but those lengthy meetings ended with little progress. Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged the resumed talks. Mamdani spoke Tuesday at a union rally in front of Mount Sinai’s hospital on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, appearing alongside U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Each affected hospital is negotiating independently with the union, as not every facility run by the three systems is involved in the strike. Other private hospital systems reached tentative agreements with the union, avoiding walkouts. City-run public hospitals are not part of these negotiations.
Since the strike began January 12, the three hospital systems have deployed thousands of temporary workers to maintain operations across their facilities.