NYC Nurses Head into Fifth Day of Strike Ready and Willing to Bargain; Hospitals Willing to Leave Nurses Out in the Cold
For Immediate Release: Jan. 16, 2026
Contact: Eliza Bates | press@nysna.org | 646-285-8491
Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
NYC NURSES HEAD INTO FIFTH DAY OF STRIKE READY AND WILLING TO BARGAIN;HOSPITALS WILLING TO LEAVE NURSES OUT IN THE COLD
Very little progress made last night in NYSNA’s first negotiation session with NewYork-Presbyterian since the strike began
Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Morningside and West answer mediators’ call to come to the table today; Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian decline to meet
Nurses on the picket line today and through the weekend
New York, NY—There will be no press conference today, but NYSNA members will be available to speak to the media at strike line locations. Last night, NYSNA nurses from NewYork-Presbyterian met with management and a mediator in the first negotiation session since the strike began on Jan. 12. Despite a history of open bargaining, security initially turned NYSNA members away. Eventually, 70 members were allowed to observe negotiations, which continued past midnight with very little progress made towards settling a fair contract. NYSNA nurses put forward a revised set of proposals that hospital executives rejected without offering a counter proposal.
NYSNA will be meeting with mediators and management at Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Morningside / West today.
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, “It takes two to negotiate. NYSNA nurses respect the mediators and are ready and willing to come to the bargaining table when they call. We urge hospital executives to do the same. Hospitals are willing to keep frontline nurses out in the cold instead of at the bedsides of our patients where we want to be.”
NYSNA nurses continue to picket today and throughout the weekend. Nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital will welcome our LGBTQIA+ allies to the picket line this afternoon. Beginning at 2 p.m at Mount Sinai Hospital, The Resistance Revival Chorus, Drag Show from Marti Gould, and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra will perform in solidarity with striking nurses.
Strike Lines Start at:
- 7 a.m at Mount Sinai Hospital, 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029
- 7 a.m. at Mount Sinai Morningside, 1111 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025
- 7 a.m. at Mount Sinai West, 1000 Tenth Ave, New York, NY 10019
7 a.m at 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
7 a.m. at 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
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.
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.
Amidst the worst flu surge in recent history, hospital executives appear to be more willing to use patients as bargaining chips in negotiations than to come to fair contracts.
While NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore and Mount Sinai – three of New York City’s wealthiest private hospitals – are claiming they can'tafford to settle a fair union contract that keeps nurses and patients safe, they likely have plenty of cash on hand to use to fight their own workers. 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.