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Nurses' union pressures NewYork-Presbyterian members to end monthlong strike
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 10, 2026
Modified Feb 11, 2026
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Caroline Lewis/Gothamist
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Feb 10, 2026
Modified Feb 11, 2026
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Leaders at the New York State Nurses Association are allowing nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian to vote to ratify a new contract that will end their monthlong strike — even though the nurses’ own union executive committee rejected the deal.
The union on Tuesday sent out a ballot via email, a copy of which was shared with Gothamist, to NewYork-Presbyterian nurses. It instructs them to begin voting on the contract proposal. NYSNA has confirmed that voting is now underway at all three hospital systems where nurses are on strike, including NewYork-Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and Montefiore.
“NYSNA is calling for a ratification vote on the latest offers we have received,” the email says. It adds that if nurses vote yes on the deal, they will end the strike, have their health insurance restored by Wednesday evening and be put on “the same and equal footing as Sinai and Montefiore NYSNA members.”
Voting on the deal appears to bypass the union committee that was bargaining on behalf of members at the hospital. NYSNA nurses at each hospital have an executive committee of union members who participate in contract negotiations.
The NewYork-Presbyterian nurses are among nearly 15,000 nurses who walked off the job on Jan. 12. Their last contracts expired on Dec. 31.
Angela Karafazli, a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian, told Gothamist on Monday that the hospital had accepted a full contract proposal presented by a mediator over the weekend, but the union had not yet agreed to it. She confirmed on Tuesday that a vote was underway.
The executive committees at Mount Sinai and Montefiore, where nurses are also on strike, accepted tentative contract agreements with their respective employers early Monday, which then allowed rank-and-file members at those hospitals to begin voting Monday afternoon on whether to fully approve the contracts and return to work.
If the nurses at those hospitals ratify the tentative agreements, according to the nurses' union, those workers are expected to return to work by Saturday.
The tentative agreements at all three hospitals share the same roughly 12% salary boost over three years, along with staffing increases, though they differ on some of the particulars.
According to Beth Loudin, president of the local bargaining unit at NewYork-Presbyterian, the bargaining committee rejected the deal that was on the table because it didn’t offer the staffing levels the nurses were seeking and lacked proposed job protections the committee felt were needed after the hospital system announced it was laying off 2% of its workforce last May.
The tentative agreement includes a commitment from NewYork-Presbyterian to hire 60 new full-time employees, while Loudin said the nurses most recently proposed 120.
Loudin called NYSNA’s decision to begin a vote, despite the bargaining committee’s opposition, “deeply unsettling.”
“You have a team that's been at this table for six months and we know our issues and we know our members really well,” Loudin said. “We know what we need to have a fair contract to go back to work. We all desperately do want to go back to work to take care of our patients.”
An Instagram account called @presbynurses has called on its more than 6,000 followers to vote no on the deal and to continue picketing Wednesday in protest.
The email says voting will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, around the same time that it will close for NYSNA members at the other hospitals on strike.
“You have fought so hard to get to this point,” Nancy Hagans, the president of NYSNA, says in a video linked in the email that addresses NewYork-Presbyterian nurses. “Your voice and your vote matter. And this is why we are calling for a ratification vote on this offer.”
Pat Kane, NYSNA’s executive director, is seated next to Hagans in the video. She adds, “The simple fact is that we’ve reached the end of negotiations.”
This story has been updated to include comment from a spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian.
Tagged
2026 NYC Nurses Strike
Health and Science
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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