{"id":100549,"date":"2026-01-14T22:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100549\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:18:15","slug":"what-to-know-as-new-york-city-nurses-strike-for-a-3rd-day-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100549\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know as New York City nurses strike for a 3rd day"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013 New York City nurses are striking<\/a> for a third day Wednesday, with both sides seemingly preparing for a protracted walkout.<\/p>\n

None of the three major hospital systems affected by the strike have met with union negotiators, though one said it plans to sit down with nurses Thursday.<\/p>\n

Picketing nurses instead held a rally at a Bronx hospital in which their leaders took aim at hospital administrators who they say are mischaracterizing their contract demands. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the hospital systems said they\u2019ve committed to keeping on the temporary nurses they brought on to fill work gaps at least through next week. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know about the biggest nursing strike<\/a> the city has seen in decades:<\/p>\n

Who’s walking out?<\/p>\n

Roughly 15,000 nurses unionized under the New York State Nurses Association went on strike Monday morning at multiple campuses of three private, nonprofit hospital systems — Mount Sinai, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian. <\/p>\n

But hospital officials have suggested unionized nurses are not all in lockstep: Mount Sinai says an increasing number have opted to continue working rather than join the picket line. The hospital said they\u2019ve gone from 20% percent of unionized nurses still on staff Tuesday to 23% Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Not every hospital run by the three health care systems is affected by the strike. Other private hospital systems in the city reached tentative deals with the union, averting walkouts at their facilities. City-run public hospitals are not affected by the strikes. <\/p>\n

Where do negotiations stand?<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian said hospital administrators planned to meet with their union counterparts on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

The sides haven\u2019t met since Sunday before the strike.<\/p>\n

The union has accused the hospitals of failing to come to the bargaining table, while administrators have laid the blame on the nurses.<\/p>\n

Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently.<\/p>\n

What are nurses seeking?<\/p>\n

The nurses\u2019 demands vary by hospital, but the union says the top concerns for members are health care, safe staffing and workplace violence.<\/p>\n

They say emergency rooms are overcrowded at too many hospitals, their workloads have become unmanageable and medical facilities need better security measures to keep patients and staff safe. <\/p>\n

Erika Perrotta, an emergency room nurse at Montefiore, said at the rally Wednesday that many patients at the Bronx hospital\u2019s ER are frequently left in the hallways because there are no rooms, making it hard for nurses to even move around the area quickly. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d she told the crowd in front of the hospital.<\/p>\n

Phiona Hunnigan-McFarlane, a nurse at Montefiore who also spoke at the rally, said she was punched to the ground by a troubled patient. <\/p>\n

She said her injuries were so bad that she had to have her family take care of her while she was out of work for six months.<\/p>\n

What are the hospitals saying?<\/p>\n

The hospitals say they\u2019re willing to provide nurses pay raises but that the union\u2019s salary demands are simply too costly. They\u2019ve described them as \u201cextreme\u201d and \u201cexorbitant.\u201d <\/p>\n

Montefiore says the union\u2019s proposal would raise the average salary of a nurse to $220,000 in three years while Mount Sinai says it would raise it to nearly $250,000. Unionized nurses\u2019 salaries currently average around $163,000 a year at the three systems.<\/p>\n

Montefiore, in response to the security issues raised at Wednesday\u2019s rally, said its security protocol is \u201cbest-in-class\u201d and includes weapons detection systems, armed New York City police officers stationed around-the-clock, internal hospital security personnel and wearable panic buttons issued to nurses.<\/p>\n

Montefiore has also been critical of a union proposal it says would prevent nurses from being fired, even if they\u2019re found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job.<\/p>\n

Union officials fired back Wednesday, saying the hospital is \u201cstigmatizing\u201d those dealing with substance abuse issues while also \u201cblatantly mischaracterizing\u201d a \u201cnon-controversial measure\u201d already being implemented around the state.<\/p>\n

How are patients being impacted?<\/p>\n

City officials haven\u2019t raised any problems so far in the early days of the walkout. <\/p>\n

Hospitals have urged patients not to avoid getting care during the strike as they’ve brought on thousands of temporary, contract nurses to cover shifts of their regular nurses.<\/p>\n

Ruth Villanueva was among the patients leaving Montefiore’s Bronx hospital as the striking nurses rallied Wednesday. The 75-year-old resident said she didn\u2019t have any issues on her visit and that the hospital seemed to be operating as usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re still the same. Nothing that is coming out different,\u201d she said, adding that she believed nurses deserved better pay.<\/p>\n

Mount Sinai said its emergency department has been managing a 25% increase in patient registrations in the early days of the strike, which hit during the busy flu season<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Greater New York Hospital Association, an industry group, has said hospitals canceled scheduled surgeries, transferred patients from more specialized units and increased discharges in the days leading up to the strike in order to streamline and reduce the number of patients they\u2019re serving.<\/p>\n

When was the last nurses’ strike?<\/p>\n

Nurses last walked off the job in 2023<\/a>. The strike impacted Mount Sinai and Montefiore and lasted three days.<\/p>\n

It resulted in a deal raising pay 19% over three years at the two hospital systems.<\/p>\n

The pact also included provisions to address nurses\u2019 staffing and workload concerns, though the union claims the hospitals are trying to walk back those guarantees in the current contract talks. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press video journalist Joseph B. Frederick in New York contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Philip Marcelo at https:\/\/x.com\/philmarcelo<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 New York City nurses are striking for a third day Wednesday, with both sides seemingly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,46075,2953,9,24,55,54,56,11506,421],"class_list":{"0":"post-100549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-erika-perrotta","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-city-news","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-philip-marcelo","17":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}