NYC nurses on strike resume negotiations with hospitals on 11th day

New York City nurses who walked off the job earlier this month returned to negotiations Thursday with hospital administrators, seeking to end the largest nursing strike the city has seen in decades.

The New York State Nurses Association announced that contract talks had resumed with the three private hospital systems affected by the strike: Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian. Union representatives stated that nurses are committed to daily bargaining sessions until the dispute is resolved.

Approximately 15,000 nurses began their strike on January 12, forcing the hospitals to recruit thousands of temporary workers to maintain operations and patient care. The walkout has significantly disrupted healthcare services across multiple facilities in one of America’s largest metropolitan areas.

“Nurses stand ready to bargain to reach fair contracts and end the strike,” the union said in a statement ahead of Thursday’s talks. “Nurses will continue to picket and strike until tentative agreements are reached with the hospitals.”

Previous negotiations have shown little progress. Last week, the union held one bargaining session with each hospital system, but these hours-long meetings ended without substantial advancement or plans for continued discussions. The renewed talks come after intervention from New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, both Democrats, who urged the parties to return to the negotiating table.

Mayor Mamdani demonstrated his support for the nurses on Tuesday by speaking at a union rally outside Mount Sinai’s Upper West Side Manhattan facility. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont also appeared at the event, highlighting the national significance of the labor dispute.

Each affected hospital is negotiating independently with the union, as not all facilities within the three systems are involved in the strike. Several other private hospital networks in the city have already reached tentative agreements with the nurses’ union, avoiding similar walkouts. Public hospitals operated by the city are not part of these negotiations.

The core issues driving the strike include nurses’ demands for protected health care benefits, improved staffing levels, and enhanced safety measures against workplace violence. Staffing concerns have become particularly acute in recent years, with many nurses reporting dangerous patient-to-nurse ratios that they claim compromise both patient care and staff wellbeing.

Hospital administrators counter that the union’s demands include “unrealistic” and financially unsustainable pay increases. They have also disputed the union’s assertions that hospitals are attempting to cut nurses’ health benefits, maintaining that no such proposals are on the table.

The strike occurs against the backdrop of a healthcare system still recovering from the tremendous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many nurses cite pandemic-related burnout and continued high-stress working conditions as factors that have exacerbated long-standing issues in the profession.

Healthcare labor experts note that this strike represents part of a broader trend of increased healthcare worker activism across the country. In the aftermath of the pandemic, similar disputes over staffing, compensation, and working conditions have emerged in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and California.

The economic impact of the strike extends beyond the hospitals directly involved, affecting local businesses near the healthcare facilities and potentially increasing healthcare costs if the dispute results in significantly higher labor expenses.

As negotiations continue, both sides face mounting pressure to reach a resolution that addresses the nurses’ concerns while ensuring the financial stability of these essential healthcare institutions that serve millions of New York residents.