NYC nurses on strike resume negotiations with hospitals on 4th day
[January 16, 2026]
By PHILIP MARCELO
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City nurses on strike resumed negotiations with
hospital administrators Thursday to try to bring an end to the city's
biggest walkout of its kind in decades.
The New York State Nurses Association said its bargaining members began
meeting with their counterparts at NewYork-Presbyterian late Thursday,
the fourth day of the strike.
They also plan to sit down with officials at other affected hospitals,
including those operated by Mount Sinai and Montefiore, on Friday,
though the union said some facilities have not yet agreed to resume
talks.
Each medical center is negotiating with the union independently, and not
every hospital run by the three health care systems is affected by the
strike.
The opposing sides haven’t met since Sunday, the day before roughly
15,000 unionized nurses walked off the job.
Hospitals have hired thousands of temporary nurses to keep emergency
rooms and other facilities running.
The nurses say they’re seeking to protect their health care benefits, as
well as secure contract provisions addressing staffing levels and safety
against workplace violence.
Sheryl Ostroff, a Mount Sinai nurse, said nurses often bear the brunt of
patients’ frustrations, and interactions can quickly become violent.
“I’ve been scratched in the face. I have been bitten in multiple places.
I have been kicked in the ribs where it leaves bruises, spit on, pushed,
punched, sexually assaulted — you name it,” she said at a union rally
Thursday. “It’s not acceptable, and we want our hospitals to protect us.
Why is that a hard ask?”
The hospitals say the unions are seeking “unrealistic” and unaffordable
pay raises.
Mount Sinai says the union's proposals would raise the average annual
salary of its nurses from roughly $162,000 to nearly $250,000 in three
years, while Montefiore says theirs would rise to $220,000.
The union dismissed the claims as “outlandish math,” but declined to
provide countering figures.
“We are committed to keep negotiating for a fair and reasonable contract
that reflects our deep respect for our nurses and the critical role they
play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s
healthcare environment,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in a statement
Thursday.
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Striking nurses demonstrate outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, in New York,
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 Nurses’ union leaders held a rally
alongside elected officials and members of other major city labor
unions Thursday in front of Mount Sinai’s Morningside campus.
The hospital, located near Columbia University in upper Manhattan,
is among those that have not yet agreed to resume contract talks,
according to the union.
Simone Way, a nurse at Mount Sinai Morningside, said she and her
fellow nurses have “sounded the alarm for years” about proper
staffing levels, but administrators have refused to listen.
“It is incredibly hard to deliver the level of care our patients
deserve,” she said at the rally. “There are limits to what good
nurses can do.”
A Mount Sinai spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an email
seeking comment on the rally or the status of contract talks.
Brendan Carr, the health system’s CEO, said in a video released
earlier Thursday that some unionized nurses who have opted to work
instead of joining the picket line have been subjected to harassment
and intimidation.
“Bullying, intimidating and threatening devalues nurses, undermines
our culture, and is not consistent with our values at Mount Sinai,”
he said, addressing hospital staff. “You deserve better.”
The union, which has filed a federal complaint against Mount Sinai
for terminating the three nurses on the eve of the strike, dismissed
the accusations as “baseless.”
The union also confirmed that its member nurses on Long Island
ratified new contracts Thursday with Northwell Health, the state's
largest health system.
The deals, which were reached last week and averted strikes at three
Long Island hospitals, called for roughly 5% raises in each year of
the three-year pact, according to the union.
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