Nearly 15,000 New York City Nurses Are on Strike — Here's What We Know

Early on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, nearly 15,000 nurses walked out of their hospitals across New York City. Their contract expired on Dec. 31, 2025, and the union and hospitals had not reached an agreement before the deadline for contract negotiations passed, per ABC7.

The strike only applies to private, non-profit hospitals across New York City because five of New York's "safety net" hospitals have already agreed on nurse benefits. The wealthiest hospitals have not met the same contract criteria, per NYSNA.org.

The strike could affect people city-wide, since the safety-net hospitals may receive more patients, and private hospitals may have to transfer patients elsewhere. However, the private hospitals have brought in agency nurses to help fill gaps during the strike. Here's why nurses are on strike.

The nurses' union is asking for higher pay, more staff to help manage their workloads, fully-funded benefits, and better workplace protections "against violence," per ABC7.

AP News points to staffing levels and workplace safety as the major reasons for the strike. The union argues that hospitals have given nurses unmanageable workloads.

Nurses are also asking for better security measures in hospitals, citing an incident from last week where a man barricaded himself in a hospital room with a knife and was later killed by police, according to AP News. Workers also want limitations on hospitals' use of AI. Specific nurse demands vary depending on the hospital, and each medical center is negotiating independently.

Emergency department nurse Tristan Castillo explained, "They don’t want to give us a fair contract, and they don’t want to give us safe staffing, and now they’re trying to roll back on our benefits," while striking on Monday morning.

In a Reddit post about the strike, one person who claims to be a nurse in NYC said that they are going on strike because their company is trying to make workers pay more than $1,000 a month for insurance that they had previously covered.

A nurse interviewed by Fox News said the strike is not really about wages, but more about creating a better nurse-to-patient ratio, so that patients get better care and nurses don't burn out.

Mamdani called their fight a "battle for dignity, fairness, and the future of the city's healthcare system." He said that the strike is about who benefits from the city's healthcare system.

Hospitals say that the nurses' demands are too costly. Mamdani countered, "There is no shortage of wealth in the healthcare industry." He added, "The CEO of Montefiore made more than $16 million last year. The CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian made $26 million. But too many nurses can't make ends meet," per ABC7.

Mamdani added that nurses are not asking for a lot, just for safeguarded pensions, "to be protected in their own workplace, and to receive the pay and health benefits they deserve."

He said that the city is helping to protect patients and healthcare workers during the strike and urged hospitals to return to negotiations as soon as possible.

In 2023, nurses from two NYC hospitals went on strike for three days and secured a deal for a 19% pay raise over three years, with staffing improvements. The union and hospitals disagree on how those changes are being addressed in actuality, however, according to AP News.