New York City nurses end largest strike in city history

The last striking New York City nurses returned to their hospitals on Feb. 26, ending a 41-day walkout that National Nurses United described as the largest and longest nurse strike in city history. The return was marked by hugs, tears, cheers, and reunions as nurses walked back inside after weeks on the picket lines.

The strike was part of a long contract campaign involving 20,000 New York City private-sector nurses, including 15,000 nurses who ultimately struck. According to the union, the effort built on a previous round of bargaining three years earlier, when nurses at the same 12 hospitals won contracts that established enforceable safe staffing standards and wage gains. That earlier campaign also included a three-day strike at Montefiore and Mount Sinai that produced staffing enforcement language the union said has since benefited NYSNA nurses across the state.

This time, nurses began escalating their campaign in August to raise public awareness. After months of bargaining, nurses at all 12 hospitals voted 97 percent in early January to authorize a strike if hospitals did not agree to fair contracts. The union said this vote made clear that nurses were prepared to act if employers continued to delay.

At eight safety-net hospitals, nurses made slower but steady progress at the bargaining table. Those hospital leaders signaled that they did not want a strike. The richest hospitals, however, were ready for one, according to the union account. Before the strike began, the president of the Greater New York Hospital Association told reporters that the hospitals had already spent $100 million on replacement nurses and were prepared to spend more. The union said the hospitals responded with aggressive public relations and union-busting campaigns, and that they stalled on nurses’ contract priorities, threatened to cut or end health benefits, sought givebacks on safe staffing, and refused to offer percentage-based wage increases.

Just days before the strike deadline, nurses at BronxCare, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, One Brooklyn Health Interfaith Medical Center, One Brooklyn Health Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center reached tentative agreements. The union said those agreements included strong language to protect nurses from workplace violence, protect nursing practice from artificial intelligence, and protect immigrant and trans patients and nurses. The hospitals also agreed to maintain health coverage and to pay an average of whatever wage increase nurses at the wealthier academic hospitals won.

While nurses at those safety-net hospitals reached tentative deals before the deadline, the richest hospitals continued to stall, the union said, holding health benefits hostage and still seeking givebacks. That led 15,000 nurses to begin the strike on Jan. 12.

Before sunrise that morning, nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, and NewYork-Presbyterian streamed out of the hospitals with signs, chants, music, and horns. They filled sidewalks around their buildings and continued to press for patient safety, nurse safety, and fair contracts in the weeks that followed.

The strike drew strong support from labor, community, and elected allies, along with patients, other union members, and everyday New Yorkers. During what the article described as the coldest winter in a generation, nurses held a dozen press conferences with supporters that included Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. They were also joined by dozens of Congressmembers, state legislators, New York City Council members, and labor and community allies.

Nurses also used a range of public actions to keep attention on their fight. They held a candlelight vigil with the parents of pediatric patients, organized a family day of community service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, staged a fun run between picket lines, picketed in front of hospital executives’ homes and businesses, and took part in civil disobedience.

On Jan. 29, NNU and NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, spoke at a vigil honoring Minnesota nurse Alex Pretti, RN, whom U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents killed. The action was co-coordinated with National Nurses United and labor allies at the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System and drew more than 1,000 protesters, including dozens of striking NYSNA nurses. The union said the demonstration sent a strong message to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of hospitals.

Negotiations continued while the strike was underway. Nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Morningside and West reached tentative agreements on Feb. 9 and returned to work on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian reached a tentative agreement on Feb. 20 and returned on Feb. 25, which brought the strike to an end the next day when the last nurses came back.

National Nurses United said the final contracts raised standards across the hospitals and won a number of protections. Those agreements, the union said, included enforceable safe staffing standards with make-whole remedies in every hospital, as well as more nurses to improve patient care. The contracts also protected health benefits without additional costs to nurses, included protections from workplace violence, protected immigrant and trans patients and nurses, and safeguarded against artificial intelligence in all contracts for the first time.

The union also said salaries rose by more than 12 percent over the life of the three-year contracts, a change intended to help recruit and retain nurses for safe patient care. The agreements, according to NNU, beat back aggressive takeaways on health care and safe staffing enforcement and required all nurses to return to work after ratification.

The article said the campaign showed nurses’ ability to act together across hospitals and raise standards for everyone. Even with the strike over, the union said more challenges remain and that hospitals must still be pushed to put patients before profits. For the nurses involved, however, the outcome represented a major win after a historic fight that ended with the city’s largest and longest nurse strike coming to a close.