Striking Nurses Demand ICE Out of Hospitals: Congress Members Join Nurses on Picket Line and NYSNA Nurses Join Labor Allies for Alex Pretti Vigil
**MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY, JAN. 29 AT 10:30 AM AND 5PM**
Contact: Eliza Bates | press@nysna.org | 646-285-8491
Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
STRIKING NURSES DEMAND ICE OUT OF HOSPITALS: CONGRESS MEMBERS JOIN NURSES ON PICKET LINE AND NYSNA NURSES JOIN LABOR ALLIES FOR ALEX PRETTI VIGIL
10:30 AM: Congress Members join nurses on the strike line at Mont Sinai Hospital to continue calls to keep ICE out of hospitals to protect care for immigrant patients
5 PM: NYSNA nurses join AFGE and labor allies at VA NY Harbor Healthcare Center for Vigil for Alex Pretti, RN, who died defending his patients and community
NYSNA nurses continue picketing
New York, NY—On Thursday, Jan. 29, NYSNA members will hold a day of action to demand ICE out of hospitals. In the morning, Congress Members will join nurses on the strike line at Mount Sinai Hospital to continue nurses’ calls to keep ICE out of hospitals and to protect and care for our immigrant communities. Throughout the day, NYSNA nurses will hold vigils at various strike lines. In the evening, NYSNA nurses will join AFGE and other labor allies at the VA NY Harbor Healthcare Center for a vigil for Alex Pretti, RN, as part of a week of action across the country in honor of him and others who have been tragically killed by ICE.
On day 18 of the largest and longest nurse strike in NYC history, NYSNA nurses continue to advocate for their patients and demand quality care for all New Yorkers, prioritizing safety in their bargaining demands. Striking nurses will continue to meet in bargaining committees to work on proposals. Mediators will call nurses and hospitals back to the table later in the week. Nurses continue to picket daily in hopes of settling fair contracts that protect nurse and patient safety.
WHAT: Speak-Out to Protect Immigrant Communities
WHO: NYSNA nurses, Congress Members, labor allies, including Adriano Espaillat, Jerry Nadler, Grace Meng, Nydia Velazquez, Community Voices Heard, Make The Road and the New York Immigration Coalition
WHEN/WHERE: Jan. 29 at 10:30 a.m.: Mount Sinai Hospital, 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029
WHAT: Vigil for Alex Pretti, RN
WHO: National Nurses United, Canadian Federation of Nursing Unions, American Federation of Government Employees
WHEN/WHERE: Jan. 29 at 5 p.m.: VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, 423 East 23d Street, New York, NY 10010
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said, “ICE’s presence endangers our patients, our nurses, and our larger communities. As an immigrant nurse and a leader of a union with many members who are immigrants or raised by immigrants, this issue hits deeply. Nurses will continue to protect our members and our immigrant patients’ ability to access safe, quality care and to live in dignity and without fear.”
Last week, federal immigration agents in Minnesota brutally murdered ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who saved veterans’ lives. Like NYSNA nurses, he fought for and protected his patients and his community. NYSNA nurses honor his life and all other victims of ICE violence.
On Wednesday, Jan. 27, City Council Labor Chair Shirley Aldebol showed her solidarity by joining nurses on the strike line. On Tuesday, Jan. 27, nurses held a day of action at Mount Sinai in protest of ICE in solidarity with our immigrant communities. Interns and residents from CIR/SEIU also joined striking nurses on the picket line at Montefiore on Monday and at Mount Sinai West on Tuesday. Over the past two weeks of the strike, nurses have held vigils with families and patients, welcomed elected officials and allies, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, gathered in non-violent actions, and held speak-outs at all four hospitals. Press is free to use photos and videos from NYSNA’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Over the weekend, nurses made major progress toward protecting their high-quality healthcare —a key sticking point in bargaining at Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian. Management at Mount Sinai and NewYork-Presbyterian signed an agreement with NYSNA that maintains NYSNA Plan A health benefits with no cuts. Nurses continue to fight for fair contracts that protect patient and nurse safety. Safe staffing to ensure that every patient has a qualified nurse at their bedside and protections from workplace violence remain top priorities at the bargaining table.
Hospital management has spent thousands on disrespecting and publicly denigrating nurses. Yet, year after year, nurses are voted the most trusted profession because they fight for their patients. In New York City, many nurses come from the communities they care for and mirror patient demographics. Across the city, 35.4% of nurses are Black or African American, 10.7% Hispanic or Latinx, and 20.9% are AAPI. Over two-thirds of NYC nurses are women of color, and, according to the American Immigration Council, 28.2% of all registered nurses in New York state are immigrants.
While hospitals continue to inflate both nurses’ demands and the cost to their systems while citing unfavorable economic conditions, they continue to rake in profits. In the first three months of 2025, Mount Sinai health system posted more than $1.2 billion in revenue from Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side, a 20% increase over the same period last year. They made these gains while saving cash in anticipation of spending millions on temporary travel nurses.
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. Over the weekend, they renewed traveler nurses’ contracts, showing that they are more willing to cut corners on care than swiftly reach a new agreement.
Key sticking points in bargaining remain:
- Management’s attempt to roll back safe staffing standards that nurses won when they went on strike at two major hospitals three years ago. These safe staffing standards ensure that patients receive the time and attention they need from nurses and that nurses are not overburdened with patients. Safe staffing standards mean better care for patients.
- 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. Workplace violence is only getting worse and puts the safety of nurses and patients at risk.
On Thursday, strike lines will start at the following times and locations:
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 9am-4pm: Mount Sinai Hospital, 1468 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10029
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 10am-7pm: Mount Sinai Morningside, 1111 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 10am-7pm: Mount Sinai West, 1000 Tenth Ave, New York, NY 10019
Montefiore Bronx Locations:
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 9am-4pm: Jack D. Weiler Campus, 1825 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 9am-4pm: Montefiore Bronx, Henry & Lucy Moses Campus, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 10am-2pm: Montefiore Bronx, Montefiore Hutchinson Medical Center, 1250 Waters Place, Bronx, NY
NewYork-Presbyterian locations:
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 8am-4pm: NewYork-Presbyterian Allen, 5141 Broadway, New York, NY 10034
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 8am-4pm: NewYork-Presbyterian CUMC, 177 Fort Washington Ave, New York, NY 10032
Tues., Jan. 27-Fri., Jan. 30: 8am-4pm: NewYork-Presbyterian CHONY, 3959 Broadway, New York, NY 10032
While nurses have fought above all for safety, management has responded with retaliation, intimidation, and stalling.
Since before the strike began, Mount Sinai has responded to nurses’ demands for safety for nurses and patients with aggressive union-busting, unlawfully firing three labor and delivery by voicemail the night before the strike began.Mount Sinai previously unfairly disciplined 14 vocal nurse leaders. Some of those who were disciplined spoke to the press after an active shooter incident, and others had spoken to colleagues about their union and contract negotiations. NYSNA filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against Mount Sinai for retaliation.
In addition to Mount Sinai’s intimidation, NewYork-Presbyterian has threatened job loss for striking and coerced RNs for exercising their right to strike. Montefiore has surveilled union nurses, in attempts to intimidate them and attempted to silence RNs. Montefiore also unlawfully restricted striking nurses’ access to healthcare at the hospital and unlawfully restricted their access to the hospital’s pharmacy to pick up their prescription medications. NYSNA has filed unfair labor practice charges at all three 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's outgoing CEO Steve Corwin raked in $26.3 million in total compensation — that’sover $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.