15,000 N.Y.C. Nurses Walk Out in Historic Strike

An historic strike is underway in New York City as nearly 15,000 nurses in Manhattan and the Bronx walked off the job on Monday, Jan. 12.

“Striking is always a last resort, but greedy hospital management at wealthy private hospitals have given frontline nurses no other choice,” New York State Nursing Association president Nancy Hagans said in a video statement shared with PEOPLE.

The “key sticking points,” Hagans said, were “safe staffing for our patients, protection from workplace violence, and healthcare for frontline nurses.” The union is also demanding higher pay, per The New York Times.

The union’s demands come amid a rise in nurses reporting experiencing or witnessing violence while on the job. Per a 2023 survey by National Nurses United, more than 80% of nurses experienced violence within the last year, both from patients and their family members.

Three main healthcare systems are impacted by the strike: Montefiore, New York-Presbyterian, and Mount Sinai. Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood on the side of the nurses at the strike’s kickoff at New York-Presbyterian, wearing a red scarf emblazoned with the NYSNA logo.

“In every one of our city’s darkest periods, nurses showed up for work. Their value is not negotiable,“ Mamdani said in a video of his appearance, shared to the NYSNA Facebook page. “We know that during 9/11 it was nurses that tended to the wounded. We know that during the global pandemic it was nurses that came into work even at the expense of their own health. They showed up even when we didn’t have protective equipment for them …They are here for us.”

However, reps for the hospital groups say the issues at hand go beyond healthcare and workplace violence. In a statement to PEOPLE, Joe Solmonese, Senior Vice President, Strategic Communications at Montefiore, says, “NYSNA’s leaders continue to double down on their $3.6 billion in reckless demands, including nearly 40% wage increases, and their troubling proposals like demanding that a nurse not be terminated if found to be compromised by drugs or alcohol while on the job. We remain resolute in our commitment to providing safe and seamless care, regardless of how long the strike may last.”

A representative for New York-Presbyterian told PEOPLE, “While NYSNA has told nurses to walk away from the bedside, we remain focused on our patients and their care. This strike is designed to create disruption, but we have taken the necessary steps so our patients continue to receive the care they trust us to provide. Our patients should visit nyp.org/nursingupdate for important updates and other additional information. We’re ready to keep negotiating a fair and reasonable contract that reflects our respect for our nurses and the critical role they play, and also recognizes the challenging realities of today’s healthcare environment. We have proposed significant wage increases that keep our nurses among the highest paid in the city, enhancements to their outstanding employer-funded benefits and new measures that reflect our shared commitment to safe staffing and workplace safety. However, good faith bargaining requires compromise from both sides.”

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A representative for Mount Sinai told PEOPLE, “Unfortunately, NYSNA decided to move forward with its strike while refusing to move on from its extreme economic demands, which we cannot agree to. We are ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses – and prepared to continue to provide safe patient care for as long as this strike lasts.”

The statement continued: “Our patients are our top priority and we are well prepared to continue to deliver excellent care to our communities for however long a strike may last. We have secured more than 1,000 qualified and specialized agency nurses to join our care teams, many of whom have already been integrated into units across our hospitals. All of our hospitals and emergency departments will remain open, and we expect most appointments will proceed as originally scheduled. There has been tremendous coordination across our entire network to manage discharges and ensure that we are prepared for the start of the strike and able to increase our capacity if a potential strike drags on. While we know a strike can be disruptive, we are prepared for a strike that could last an indefinite amount of time and have taken every step to best support our patients and employees during this strike.”

While addressing the crowd, Mamdani calling the three hospital groups “the wealthiest in the entire city,” and said “there is no shortage of wealth in the healthcare industry, especially so at the three privately operated hospital groups at which nurses are striking,”

He continued: “The hospital executives who run these hospitals, the ones where these hardworking nurses are asking for what they deserve, these executives are not having difficulty making ends meet.”

The mayor pointed out the multi-million dollar salaries of the health group CEOs and also said, “New York City will do everything in our power to ensure the sick and injured can continue to receive high-quality care, and we will do so while refusing to abandon those who have time and again refused to abandon us.”

Mamdani said all parties need to return to negotiations and “bargain in good faith,” calling on them to come to an agreement “that allows the nurses who work in this city to live in this city.”