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Hochul extends disaster emergency as NYC nurse strike continues
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 24, 2026
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Left: SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock; Right: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 24, 2026
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As the New York City nurses strike neared the two-week mark Saturday, Gov. Kathy Hochul extended the disaster emergency she declared earlier this month to help keep the health system afloat during the work stoppage.
The order allows clinicians licensed in other states to work in Manhattan and the Bronx, where nurses are striking — a measure hospitals say has been crucial to dealing with strike-related staffing challenges. The order was supposed to expire Sunday but was extended to Feb. 2.
The move comes as nurses and hospital representatives signal that contract negotiations remain fraught, despite nurses scaling back their salary demands in recent days.
Nearly 15,000 nurses went on strike at hospitals run by Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian on Jan. 12.
After halting negotiations early in the strike, nurses resumed bargaining with all hospitals Thursday and the parties vowed, at the behest of Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to bargain daily to try to reach an agreement.
But on Friday evening, the New York State Nurses Association, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian all issued updates signaling they were still far from being on the same page. Montefiore did not provide an update on negotiations.
NewYork-Presbyterian said the parties left the table that evening with no commitment to return the following day. Neither the nurses union nor any of the hospitals confirmed whether negotiations continued Saturday.
Scaling back salary demands
The nurses’ union said it entered talks Thursday with a new proposal to reduce its salary demands, which hospital representatives confirmed.
The average base salary for nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian is $163,000, according to hospital officials. The average base salary for nurses at Montefiore is similar, while nurses at Mount Sinai make just under $130,000, according to the New York Times.
In the early stages of negotiations this fall, nurses were asking for 10% wage increases annually over three years, the New York Times reported. Throughout negotiations, hospital reps have called nurses’ salary demands unreasonable.
According to Mount Sinai, nurses are now proposing increases of 7% in the first year of the new contract, 6% in the second year, and 5% in the third year. Mount Sinai said it also made a counteroffer.
The Nurses Association did not confirm the details of the salary negotiations.
But despite new movement on wages, a Mount Sinai spokesperson lamented Friday evening that NYSNA was holding firm on its other economic demands.
NYSNA, meanwhile, continued to accuse hospital leaders Friday of trying to cut nurses’ health benefits.
“The only thing we ask is that they provide us with health care and they said they were going to do it, but they lied,” Simone Way, a nurse at Mount Sinai Morningside, said at a press conference NYSNA held at the Javits Center on Friday evening, capping two days of talks.
NewYork-Presbyterian and Mount Sinai followed up with their own emails after the press conference, once again denying that they were trying to cut nurses’ health benefits.
“We are committed to the bargaining process and will be at the table when NYSNA is ready to return and have a constructive dialogue towards a reasonable agreement,” said Angela Karafazli, a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian.
Montefiore did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on how negotiations were progressing.
Tagged
2026 NYC Nurses Strike
Health and Science
economy
new york city
nurses
public health
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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