Reflecting on New York City’s Largest Nurses’ Strike
After weeks of nurses picketing in the freezing cold, New York City nurses concluded their biggest-ever strike last month. Jacobin spoke to a striking nurse leader about their fight against intransigent employers and a hostile governor.
The historic nurses’ strike in New York City was a brutal confrontation between nurses and their employers that saw nurses stay out for over a month. (Liao Pan / China News Service / VCG via Getty Images)
This winter saw the largest nurses’ strike in New York City’s history and one of the biggest in US history. On January 12, 2026, 15,000 nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) walked out across the city’s three biggest private sector hospital systems: Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian, and Montefiore.
The strike was a brutal confrontation between nurses and their employers that saw nurses stay out for over a month in the freezing cold over issues including safe-staffing requirements, workplace violence protections, and health care benefits. Nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore (often referred to as “Monte”) ratified agreements with the hospitals on February 14, while NewYork-Presbyterian (“Presby”) nurses stayed on strike for another week, ratifying a contract on February 21.
The conflict saw both New York governor Kathy Hochul and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani enter the fray. Hochul issued and repeatedly extended an executive order allowing the hospitals to more easily hire travel nurses to weather the walkout, while Mamdani took the step of joining the nurses on the picket line — uncharacteristic of a sitting mayor.
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