More than 99% of NYSNA Nurses at St. Charles Hospital Vote Yes to Authorize Strike
For Immediate Release: June 12, 2026
Contact: Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
Joseph Celestin | press@nysna.org | 518-776-8337
MORE THAN 99% OF NYSNA NURSES AT ST. CHARLES HOSPITAL VOTE YES TO AUTHORIZE STRIKE
Near Unanimous Vote to Authorize a Strike Signals Nurses Are Ready to Do Whatever It Takes to Protect Safe Patient Care in Their Community
Port Jefferson, N.Y. – This week, approximately 300 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Catholic Health System/ St. Charles Hospital voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike, with more than 99% voting yes to authorize a strike. The vote came after their contract expired on March 31 and after negotiating in over a dozen bargaining sessions. The NYSNA nurses’ bargaining committee now has the authority to call a strike with a 10-day notice if hospital management fails to agree to a contract that protects safe patient care.
Safe staffing is a huge patient safety issue at St. Charles. The hospital is regularly understaffed and recently assigned 1 nurse to care for 5 NICU babies—that’s more than double the safe, legal standard of care in New York state. St. Charles nurses submit between 100 to 200 complaints to hospital management about staffing every month.
In 2024, NYSNA reviewed extensive data showing that the emergency department was almost never staffed as required by the contract. NYSNA filed for an arbitration to enforce the contract, and on the day of the scheduled hearing, St. Charles administrators agreed to recruit more nurses to maintain safe staffing standards in the department. More than a year and a half after that agreement, St. Charles has failed to recruit the nurses it agreed to hire. In addition, NYSNA has filed for three separate arbitrations on staffing.
After a New York State Department of Health investigation found that the hospital had a consistent pattern of understaffing, the hospital still failed to hire and retain enough nurses to meet basic safety standards. The DOH found over 150 violations of the New York State safe staffing law, including understaffing in the NICU, pediatric, post-partum, ICU, emergency department, and more.
St. Charles hospital executives are flouting New York’s safe staffing law, the staffing standards in the nurses’ contract, and putting patient safety at risk. Nurses are demanding enforceable safe staffing standards at St. Charles to hold the hospital accountable for patient and nurse safety.
Nurses gathered at the hospital at noon with allies, including the Long Island Federation of Labor, to announce the results of their strike vote.
**Photos and video are available for media use at https://www.facebook.com/nynurses/**
Local nurse leader Kim Bowman, RN, said: “We are here because hospital management has given us no other choice. On some units in this hospital, being short-staffed means not being able to take breaks, or check on our patients as often as we’d like. But for other units – like the emergency department – working understaffed might mean delaying treatment for a non-critical patient to provide life-saving care to another.”
Tracy Kosciuk, RN, a post-partum nurse who has worked at St. Charles for 38 years, said: “Catholic Health and St. Charles management refuse to address the chronic understaffing issues that nurses are facing. They also refuse to abide by the staffing ratios that we won in our last contract, and that New York’s safe staffing law says they must follow. This is unacceptable and puts our patients at risk.”
St. Charles nurses are among approximately 1,000 Catholic Health nurses at three hospitals currently negotiating contracts. The contract for NYSNA nurses at St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage expired on March 31, and the contract for NYSNA nurses at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown is set to expire July 31. NYSNA nurses at all three hospitals are united in demanding contracts that deliver safe staffing, protections from workplace violence, and fair wages.
Catholic Health NYSNA nurses have launched a petition campaign, organized in their community, and done joint campaign days at their hospitals to win fair contracts.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, "These are nurses who care deeply about their communities and have cared for their friends, neighbors and family members for decades. Striking is always a last resort, but these NYSNA nurses are prepared to do whatever it takes to protect safe patient care and hold their hospital accountable for safety. The 45,000 members of NYSNA around the state have their backs.”
NYSNA nurses have won strong contracts on Long Island and in New York City in the last year. In January 2026, more than 1,000 NYSNA nurses at Northwell/Huntington Hospitals, Northwell/Plainview, and Northwell/Syosset won fair contracts that delivered safe staffing and fair wages just days before they were scheduled to strike. In January and February 2026, approximately 20,000 nurses at 12 New York City hospitals won contracts that improved enforceable safe staffing standards, protected health benefits, protected nurses from workplace violence, protected immigrant patients and nurses, safeguarded against artificial intelligence, and increase wages by more than 12% over the life of the three-year contracts. Nurses at three of those hospital systems went on the largest and longest nurse strike in New York City history.
###
The New York State Nurses Association represents approximately 45,000 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.