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Nurses call for NewYork-Presbyterian to return to bargaining table
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 12, 2026
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Caroline Lewis/Gothamist
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 12, 2026
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Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian are calling for hospital management to quickly return to the bargaining table to continue negotiating over the outstanding issues in their contract, after rejecting a deal that would have ended their monthlong strike.
NewYork-Presbyterian nurses are the only holdouts as more than 10,000 nurses at hospitals run by Mount Sinai and Montefiore end their strikes and prepare to return to work in the coming days. But what happens now, following Wednesday’s “no” vote by NewYork-Presbyterian nurses, is unclear.
Nancy Hagans, the president of the New York State Nurses Association, said on WNYC’s "Brian Lehrer Show" on Thursday that union leadership was applying pressure on hospital management to resume negotiations.
“They need to respond to us right away and come to the table and finish this,” Hagans said.
After the results of the contract vote came in Wednesday evening, Angela Karafazli, a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian, said that next steps are still being determined — and that the hospital is “inviting our nurses to return to work if they choose,” even as the strike continues.
She added that the deal the nurses rejected, presented by third-party mediators, was “fair and reasonable and reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role that they play.”
Although Hagans pledged to support the nurses who continue to strike, several NewYork-Presbyterian nurses who called or wrote to "The Brian Lehrer Show" questioned her leadership.
They said they felt betrayed by Hagans and other senior officials at NYSNA, who pushed forward a vote on the NewYork-Presbyterian contract this week, even after the nurses’ own bargaining committee had rejected the deal.
When asked about the move on air and the rift it has caused, Hagans said some nurses had requested a chance to vote on the deal that was on the table — and that it was the union’s duty to allow them to do so.
Ahead of the vote, Hagans and NYSNA Executive Director Pat Kane urged NewYork-Presbyterian nurses in a video message to support the deal and end their strike.
But despite that message, 3,099 nurses at the hospital system voted against ratifying the contract, while 867 voted in favor of it.
“ I feel stronger than ever,” Beth Loudin, a nurse and bargaining unit president at NewYork-Presbyterian, said after seeing the vote tally. Loudin is on the bargaining committee that recommended nurses reject the deal.
Loudin added that there are only a couple of points left to negotiate before the bargaining committee will accept the contract.
That includes how many new full-time employees NewYork-Presbyterian will commit to hiring and language around job protections — a measure nurses say is needed after layoffs at the hospital system last year.
“We're fired up,” Loudin said. “We're gonna be on the [picket] lines and we're ready to get to the table.”
Tagged
2026 NYC Nurses Strike
Health and Science
economy
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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