Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC hospitals prepare as thousands of nurses threaten to strike next week
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 7, 2026
Modified Jan 8, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
FS Productions/Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 7, 2026
Modified Jan 8, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management is making contingency plans to maintain hospital capacity across the city as nearly 16,000 nurses at six privately run hospitals threaten to strike on Monday over stalled contract negotiations.
The New York State Nurses Association has rescinded strike notices at seven other hospitals after making progress toward contract agreements. The nurses’ previous contracts expired on Dec. 31.
If the nurses at all the remaining hospitals walk off the job, it would still be the largest nursing strike in city history, according to the union. Nurses and hospital management are clashing over demands for higher wages, improved benefits, more robust staffing and safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence, among other issues, the union said.
Nurses are threatening to strike at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West, Mount Sinai Morningside and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, as well as Montefiore Medical Center and BronxCare in the Bronx.
The Office of Emergency Management said it would help hospitals coordinate to divert or transfer patients to other facilities if the strike proceeds at any of the hospitals and services are disrupted.
Hospitals are also making their own contingency plans for serving patients.
“While we are continuing to work to reach a deal to provide nurses with exceptional wages and benefits, we are taking steps to prepare for a strike,” said Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai Health System.
Mount Sinai has already started bringing in “outside nurses” and integrating them into daily operations at campuses where nurses are threatening to strike, in addition to running staffing disruption drills, Lee said.
“These preparations all are expensive, [and] that takes away resources that could be invested in nurses or other members of our care teams,” Lee added.
The New York State Nurses Association, or NYSNA, says it has filed unfair labor practice charges against Mount Sinai for making union nurses train the nurses who were hired to replace them during the strike.
The last time city nurses struck in January 2023, more than 7,000 workers walked off the job for three days at Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center.
Striking deals with some hospitals, threatening to strike at others
Nurses have so far rescinded their strike notices at Maimonides Medical Center, the Brooklyn Hospital Center and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, Flushing Hospital Medical Center in Queens and two facilities that are part of the One Brooklyn Health network.
“Our safety-net hospitals are taking significant steps toward settling fiscally responsible contracts that protect nurses and patients, while rich private hospitals like Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian continue to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars to fight against frontline nurses,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a statement Tuesday.
In addition to other provisions, the deals that have been reached include language around the use of AI that will “ensure that patients always have a real nurse at the bedside,” the union said.
“We are pleased that we have reached an agreement with NYSNA to withdraw their strike notice,” said Sam Miller, a spokesperson for Maimonides. The hospital is in the process of joining the city’s public NYC Health and Hospitals network, in part as a response to ongoing financial troubles.
“We have resolved many of the key contract issues, and will continue negotiations toward a final agreement that rewards nurses for their important work while recognizing the increasingly difficult financial challenges that we and other safety net hospitals face,” Miller continued.
Mount Sinai, on the other hand, called out the the nurses association for “politicizing” its contract negotiations. Lee said nurses are demanding salary increases that would drive up the average nurse’s pay by more than $100,000 per year. But the union says Mount Sinai is referencing early demands that have since evolved.
The Greater New York Hospital Association has called the union’s strike threat “irresponsible” and said the union’s demands demonstrate a lack of perspective, given coming federal health care cuts pushed through by the Trump administration.
Those cuts, included in the domestic spending bill passed in July, are expected to slash $8 billion from New York hospitals and trigger a loss of 34,000 hospital jobs statewide, according to the hospital association.
The hospital association also noted that nursing salaries have increased in recent years and the hospitals involved in negotiations have taken steps to improve hiring and reduce vacancies.
This story has been updated with additional information about where and how many nurses are threatening walk outs.
Tagged
2026 NYC Nurses Strike
Health and Science
economy
health
new york city
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].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .