Nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Mount Sinai Morningside and West Continue Contract Ratification Votes
For Immediate Release: Feb. 10, 2026
Contact: Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
Eliza Bates | press@nysna.org | 646-285-8491
NURSES AT MONTEFIORE, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL AND MOUNT SINAI MORNINGSIDE AND WEST CONTINUE CONTRACT RATIFICATION VOTES
Approximately 10,500 nurses at Montefiore and the Mount Sinai system are holding votes to ratify contracts that protect patient and nurse safety
Ratification vote results will be announced Wednesday evening. If nurses ratify contracts, they will return to work by Saturday, Feb. 14
New York, NY — Approximately 10,500 NYSNA members at Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Morningside and West reached tentative agreements with their hospitals late Sunday/early Monday. Members continue to vote through Wednesday afternoon to ratify contracts. If contracts are ratified, nurses will return to work by Saturday, Feb. 14.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN said, “This historic strike was all in the name of protecting patient and nurse safety. We went out and achieved fair contracts that defend healthcare for New Yorkers and allow us to get back to the bedside, where we want to be. We’re so grateful for the outpouring of support from people who understand that safe staffing saves lives and that nurses and patients deserve to be safe in New York’s hospitals.”
NYSNA Executive Director Pat Kane, RN, CNOR(e), said, “Our members secured enforceable safe staffing standards, improved protections from workplace violence, and their health benefits with no cuts or added costs. All of the improvements they won were gained through resilience and unity. 15,000 nurses held the line for nearly a month in this city and showed that New York nurses are fighters!”
Dania Munoz, DNP, NP, RN, and Mount Sinai local nurse leader, said, “We went into this strike with clear demands: safe staffing, protections from workplace violence, and to maintain our health benefits. We marched, rallied, spoke out, and continued to demand the best for patient care. We showed that the hospital’s wealth, union-busting, and expensive PR was no match for the strength and unity of NYSNA nurses. This tentative agreement delivers on our priorities and ensures that we can safely care for our patients, holds management accountable when they understaff, and improves safety so that everyone – patients, families and healthcare workers – can feel safer in our hospitals. We’re so glad we can return to the bedside where we want to be.”
Phiona Hunnigan-McFarlane, RN, and Montefiore local nurse leader, said, “All 15,000 members made a bold statement to this city. Montefiore nurses worked tirelessly to get a contract that patients and our Bronx communities deserve. We were able to secure improvements in safe staffing standards and a plan to ease overcrowding in our hospital. We’re so happy with what we were able to achieve to improve care and look forward to getting back to our patients and caring for the community that we love.”
Denash Forbes, MSN, RN, NYSNA director-at-large and Mount Sinai Morningside and West local nurse leader, said, “It’s been a long month, but this contract makes it worth it. Our members gave up a lot — time, sleep, money, and healthcare – they faced freezing weather not seen in years, all to improve healthcare for our city. The work continues. We achieved a great contract that makes it possible to hold our employers accountable and ensure that there are enough nurses to safely care for our patients.”
Nurses fought for and won tentative agreements that:
- Maintain enforceable safe staffing standards and increase the number of nurses to improve patient care.
- Protect their health benefits that hospitals threatened to drastically cut.
- Protect nurses from workplace violence.
- Protect immigrant and trans patients and nurses.
- Safeguard against artificial intelligence in their contracts for the first time.
- Increase salaries by more than 12% over the life of the 3-year contract to recruit and retain nurses for safe patient care.
- Beat back aggressive takeaways on healthcare and safe staffing enforcement.
- Return all nurses to work after ratification.
More details on the tentative agreements will follow ratification.
Nurses began bargaining in September and went on the largest and longest nurse strike in New York City history on January 12. They picketed through some of the coldest temperatures in the city and demonstrated their incredible resolve to protect patient and nurse safety through fair contracts.
The unfair labor practice strike at NewYork-Presbyterian continues. Nurses at Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and Mount Sinai Morningside and West will vote to ratify their contracts on Feb. 9 – 11. If the tentative contract agreements are ratified, nurses will return to work by Saturday, Feb. 14. NYSNA expects to announce the results of the ratification vote after voting concludes for all three hospital contracts on Wednesday evening, Feb. 11.
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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.