As of Thursday, January 15, 2026, the nurses strike occurring in New York, New York entered its fourth day. There are over 15,000 nurses in the city who are currently fighting for better staffing, more adequate health care benefits, and an improvement in workplace safety. They have remained at the picket lines since the beginning of the week.
On the third day of the now largest strike in New York City history, nurses met with both hospital staff and city leaders to negotiate a solution to their demands. The meeting failed to be able to meet the desires and demands of the nurses, and no deal was produced by the five private hospital systems affected by the strike. Furthermore, the New York State Nurses Association accused hospital management of preventing the nurses from establishing an union.
The hospitals affected have utilized travel nurses and temporary nurses in order to continue regular operations. Between the hospitals affected–Montefiore, NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, and three out of the Mount Sinai system–approximately $100 million have been spent to hire and rent rooms for the nurses filling in. Despite replacement staff, hospitals are overfilled and behind schedule and patients are facing much longer waiting times.
The contract nurses on strike claim that the nurses working temporarily are not adequate replacements, and this is further putting both nurses and patients at risk. They continue their strike and demand that their concerns be heard, and ensure that the future of nurses is not impacted by the conditions they have faced.
Thursday evening, another negotiation meeting is set between nurses and the hospitals’ executives, with a mediator helping. It is still unclear whether or not this meeting will resolve the strike, or if it will continue onto its fifth day on Friday, January 16, 2026.
