Nearly 15,000 nurses went on strike Monday at major New York City hospitals after contract talks broke down over staffing shortages, workloads, pay, benefits and workplace safety, union officials said.
The walkout began around 6 am local time (1100GMT) at Mount Sinai Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, according to the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), which represents more than 42,000 nurses statewide.
The union said chronic understaffing has forced nurses to care for dangerously high numbers of patients, undermining patient safety and making adequate care impossible. Several safety-net hospitals reached tentative agreements in recent days, averting strikes at those facilities.
Hospitals rejected the union's demands as unrealistic and too costly, saying they had activated contingency plans that include deploying temporary nurses, transferring patients, canceling procedures and diverting ambulances during a heavy flu season.
The strike prompted New York Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state disaster emergency on Jan. 10, 2026, in affected counties, allowing regulatory flexibility and measures to ensure continuity of care.
The New York State Department of Health said it has sent monitors to affected hospitals to oversee patient safety.
Nurses are also demanding contract limits on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, arguing that hospitals increasingly rely on AI tools for diagnostics, triage, monitoring and workforce planning to cut costs instead of hiring more staff.
The union said enforceable rules are needed to ensure AI supports nurses rather than replaces them and does not become a substitute for addressing chronic understaffing.
Nurses are seeking stronger protections against workplace violence, including improved security, de-escalation training and safeguards against retaliation for reporting incidents.
Concerns intensified after an active shooter scare last November at Mount Sinai Hospital, where an armed man threatened the emergency department. No shots were fired and no injuries were reported, but the incident led to a lockdown.
Mount Sinai later disciplined three nurses who publicly criticized safety gaps, a move NYSNA described as union-busting intended to silence workplace safety advocates.
A similar incident occurred recently at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where police fatally shot a man who barricaded himself with staff and a patient while threatening harm using a broken piece of a toilet seat. No other injuries were reported.
