Largest Nurse Strike in NYC History Continues into Second Day
**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TUESDAY, JAN. 13 **
Contact: Eliza Bates | press@nysna.org | 646-285-8491
Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
LARGEST NURSE STRIKE IN NYC HISTORY CONTINUES INTO SECOND DAY
NURSES CALL OUT UNION BUSTING AFTER MOUNT SINAI UNLAWFULLY FIRED 3 NYSNA NURSES ON EVE OF STRIKE, AND PREVIOUSLY UNLAWFULLY DISCIPLINED 14
Striking nurses to hold 2 p.m. press conference outside of Mount Sinai Hospital to provide updates on hospitals’ threats to discontinue or drastically cut healthcare benefits for frontline nurses, attempts to roll back progress made in safe staffing, and refusal to agree to protectionsagainst workplace violence
New York, NY— Striking NYSNA nurses will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital to discuss management’s refusal to ensure safety for nurses and patients and to call out management’s union busting after Mount Sinai unlawfully fired three nurses just hours before nurses went on strike. Previously, Mount Sinai unlawfully disciplined 14 vocal nurse leaders who spoke out about workplace violence after an active shooter incident or who spoke to their colleagues about their union and contract negotiations.
Tuesday is the second day of the largest nurse strike in New York City history with 15,000 NYSNA nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, and NewYork-Presbyterian who are on strike demanding hospitals take action to protect patient and nurse safety, including agreeing to maintain health benefits for frontline nurses.
Management at the richest hospitals in New York City are threatening to discontinue or drastically cut nurses’ health benefits. These cuts would impactnot just striking nurses at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Morningside and West and NewYork-Presbyterian, but approximately 44,000 nurses and their families at over 50 hospitals around the state who are enrolled in NYSNA’s health benefit plan.
WHAT: NYSNA Strike and Strike Line Press Conference
WHO: NYSNA nurses and allies, including New York City Council Members Lynn Schulman, Julie Won and Shekar Krishnan, the New York City Central Labor Council, Align, Citizen Action, Community Voices Heard, and New York Communities for Change.
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. Press Conference
WHERE: Press conference: 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029
NYSNA nurses walked out on Monday, Jan. 12, after management refused to make meaningful progress on core issues that nurses have been fighting for: safe staffing for patients, healthcare benefits for nurses, and workplace violence protections. Nurses are ready to settle a fair contract that prioritizes safety. However, management has responded with delaying progress, silencing vocal patient advocates, and smearing nurses publicly.
Until management agrees to fair contract that protects patients and nurses, strike lines continue daily beginning at 7 a.m. at:
- Mount Sinai Hospital, 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029
- Mount Sinai Morningside, 1111 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025
- Mount Sinai West, 1000 Tenth Ave, New York, NY 10019
Montefiore Bronx Locations:
- Jack D. Weiler Campus, 1825 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461
- Montefiore Bronx, Henry & Lucy Moses Campus, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467
- Montefiore Bronx, Montefiore Hutchinson Medical Center, 1250 Waters Place, Bronx, NY
NewYork-Presbyterian locations:
- NewYork-Presbyterian Allen, 5141 Broadway, New York, NY 10034
- NewYork-Presbyterian CUMC, 177 Fort Washington Ave, New York, NY 10032
- NewYork-Presbyterian CHONY, 3959 Broadway, New York, NY 10032
On the eve of the largest nurse strike in history and while bargaining was still happening, Mount Sinai management unlawfully terminated three labor and delivery nurses via voicemail. This unit has experienced aggressive union-busting activity; management disciplined nurses late last year for going to a union meeting. With a looming strike deadline, management tried to scapegoat nurses, citing false claims about their interference with the expensive travel nurses hired to replace them. Instead of getting serious at the bargaining table and setting a fair contract that protects patients and nurses, Mount Sinai management continued to attack the very nurses who are fighting for their patients.
Berina Selimovic, RN, and Liliana Prestia, RN, from Mount Sinai Hospital, said, “What management did is pure intimidation. Our unfair terminations were Mount Sinai’s attempts to scare other nurses and keep them from joining the strike line. But nurses weren’t scared. They still walked out in the largest action this city has seen. Mount Sinai can try all they want to intimidate us, but we’re still here demanding better for our patients and our communities.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, “Instead of addressing the most important issues—patient and nurse safety—hospital management has cowardly and unlawfully disciplined and terminated NYSNA nurses. Management’s disrespectful treatment of frontline nurse heroes is despicable, but they cannot silence our union voice. As we have said from day one: nurses ae ready and willing to settle a fair contract that protects patients. Our bosses know exactly where to find us when they are ready to bargain – on the strike line.”
“Citizen Action of New York stands in solidarity with striking nurses who are organizing for fair contracts and safe, dignified working conditions,” said Carolyn Martinez-Class and Rebecca Garrard, Co-Executive Directors of Citizen Action of New York. “Management must come to the table and negotiate fair contracts that put patients and hospital workers over profit.”
Key sticking points and open issues remain: management’s threats to cut healthcare benefits for the frontline nurses who care for New York City, management’s attempt to roll back safe staffing standards that nurses won when they went on strike at two major hospitals three years ago, and management’s refusal to agree to protections from workplace violence, despite a recent active shooter incident at Mount Sinai Hospital and the recent horrific violent incident at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
Instead of following the lead of New York City’s eight safety-net hospitals and Northwell Health’s three hospitals on Long Island that all reached tentative agreements with nurses to avert strikes, New York City’s wealthiest academic hospitals are forcing nurses out on strike and refusing to agree to NYSNA's proposal to continue nurses’ health benefits.
While nurses have fought above all for safety, management has responded with retaliation, intimidation, and stalling, and flaunted the more than $100 million they’ve collectively spent on temporary replacement nurses. Mount Sinai has disciplined and attempted to silence nurses who have spoken out on workplace safety and targeted RNs for exercising union rights. NewYork-Presbyterian has threatened job loss for striking. Montefiore has surveilled union nurses, in attempts to intimidate them. All three hospitals have withheld information on their excessive use of traveler nurses. NYSNA has filed unfair labor practice charges in response.
NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore and Mount Sinai – three of New York City’s wealthiest private hospitals – claim they can’t afford to settle a fair contract. As of September 2025, these three hospitals had on hand twice as much cash and cash equivalents as they had in 2017, even adjusting for inflation, holding onto over $1.6 billion dollars, showing that the safe staffing ratios nurses won years ago allowed them to continue to rake in profits. And they’ve already spent more than $100 million on temporary traveler nurses, who don't know New York City patients or communities.
While prices in healthcare go up, so does executive pay at the largest private sector hospitals. The city’s private hospitals have increased their executive compensation by millions and according to 990 tax filings, the CEOs of New York City’s three major academic medical centers, Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian increased their total compensation, including salaries, benefits, and perks, by over 54% from 2020 to 2023. The CEOs at Montefiore, Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian, the same ones who say they cannot afford to safely staff their hospitals, now make, on average, nearly 12,000 percent more than the registered nurses on the frontlines caring for patients.
In 2024, NewYork-Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin raked in $26.3 million in total compensation — that’s over $2.1 million per month, and nearly $72,000 per day. In just one day, NYP CEO Steve Corwin made more money than many New York City families make in an entire year.
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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.