Read our feature article on the history of healthcare workers struggles here.
Striking nurses in New York City represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) at the healthcare monopoly NewYork-Presbyterian overwhelmingly voted to reject a sell-out contract pushed by NYSNA executives on Wednesday (02/11), continuing the strike.
The union’s executive committee at NYP, comprised of rank-and-file union members, had previously rejected the same tentative agreement (TA), arguing that it did not meet their demands. These include key provisions around safe staffing and job security, pressing concerns after NYP laid off over 1,000 workers last year. NYSNA top leadership Nancy Hagans and Pat Kane pushed the contract anyway, giving nurses only around 24 hours to vote on the TA, less than striking nurses at other hospitals.
Hagens said Tuesday in defense of forcing the vote at NYP: “We are moving forward with a vote on tentative contracts at all four hospitals with the goal of returning all nurses to work as soon as possible.” The NYP tentative agreement came after a TA was reached with other healthcare monopolies in the city, demobilizing about 10,000 nurses from the largest and longest nurse strike in NYC’s history.
About 15,000 nurses in NYC have been on strike since January 12 across three hospital systems fighting for better staffing, healthcare, pay, and security, maintaining their picket lines in sub-zero temperatures. Nurses at Mt. Sinai and Montefiore voted to ratify their contracts on Wednesday despite some hesitations about it, with some nurses telling The Worker that it fell short of their demands and compromised on winning back the jobs of three nurses fired in an act of intimidation just before the strike began.
Of the roughly 4,200 NYP nurses on strike, an overwhelming 3,099 members rejected the deal and pushed to continue to strike after rank-and-file nurses led a campaign against the undemocratic maneuver of the union bureaucracy.
Despite NYSNA canceling picket lines on Wednesday following its announcement of the TA, NYP nurses still gathered outside NYP hospitals while rallying at NYSNA headquarters to deliver a letter to union leadership condemning their collusion with the hospitals.
“Over the course of the strike, I’ve realized that [NYSNA executives] have been acting as lobbyists,” a nurse at the rally told The Worker. Numerous posts on social media from nurses expressed their fury over the betrayal, with the social media page of NYP nurses posting “NYSNA sold us out” and saying the union leadership “went over our heads to force a ratification vote.”
Throughout the month-long strike, NYSNA officials prevented picketers from blocking and confronting hospital management and scabs—a tactic shown to be successful in winning strikes, including in the healthcare industry—despite information on where scabs enter the building being generally known among striking nurses, according to nurses on the picket line.
One NYP nurse on the picket line told The Worker, “The way we’re going to win is by fighting and not accepting a crap contract just to get into the building. We know who we’re working for and they don’t have our best interests at heart.”
Photo: NYSNA nurses picket NYP on February 10, 2026. Credit: The Worker.
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