NYC nurses reach a deal to end a strike at 2 major hospitals while
walkout continues at another
[February 10, 2026]
By PHILIP MARCELO and JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — Nurses and two major hospital systems in New York City
have reached a deal to end a nearly monthlong strike over staffing
levels, workplace safety, health insurance and other issues.
The tentative agreement announced Monday by the nurses' union involves
the Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospital systems. Nurses remain on strike
at NewYork-Presbyterian.
The walkout began Jan. 12, prompting the hospitals to scramble to hire
legions of temporary nurses to fill in during a demanding flu season.
The three-year proposal affects roughly 10,500 of the some 15,000 nurses
on strike at some of the city’s biggest private, nonprofit hospitals.
The union said nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospitals will vote
to ratify their contracts starting Monday. If the tentative deals are
ratified, nurses will return to work Saturday.
“For four weeks, nearly 15,000 NYSNA members held the line in the cold
and in the snow for safe patient care,” Nancy Hagans, president of the
New York State Nurses Association, said in a statement. “Now, nurses at
Montefiore and Mount Sinai systems are heading back to the bedside with
our heads held high.”
The nurses union said the tentative agreements call for a 12% pay raise
over three years, as well as maintain nurses' health benefits with no
additional out-of-pocket costs.
In addition, the proposed pacts include new protections against
workplace violence, including specific protections for transgender and
immigrant nurses and patients, as well as provisions addressing
artificial intelligence in hospitals, the union said.
A Montefiore spokesperson declined to comment other than to confirm its
nurses would be voting through Wednesday.
Brendan Carr, Mount Sinai's CEO, said in a note to hospital staff that
it would take time for the system to “rebuild the momentum” after a
“long and difficult” negotiation.
“I commit to you that we will heal the organization together in the
service of continuing to help people to live longer and better lives,”
he wrote.
Meanwhile, NewYork-Presbyterian said it agreed over the weekend to a
proposal from mediators that includes pay raises, preserves nurses’
pensions, maintains their health benefits and increases staffing levels.
The union responded that no deal has been reached and the strike remains
in effect.
Jennifer Lynch was among the union members picketing in front of NewYork-Presbyterian
Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Manhattan on Monday. She said
staffing levels and job security were among the top sticking points in
negotiations.
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Striking nurses walk a picket line outside NewYork Presbyterian
Hospital in New York, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 “It’s incredibly frustrating that
other employers are willing to give fair contracts to their
employees and ours has yet to do that,” she said.
Maria Tsoi, a NewYork-Presbyterian nurse, said her hospital treats
as many as 300 patients in the emergency department at any given
time -- far too many to handle at the current staffing levels.
“So what we’re asking is for more nurses,” Tsoi said. “That’s why we
want the hospital to hire more nurses, so that we can better care
for our patients.”
The affected hospitals have insisted their operations are running
smoothly during the walkout, with organ transplants, cardiac
surgeries and other complex procedures largely uninterrupted. Many
of the medical centers, however, canceled scheduled surgeries,
transferred some patients and discharged others ahead of the strike.
The striking nurses' priorities vary by hospital, but staffing has
generally been a central issue. Nurses complained of being
overworked, saying the hospitals held out for weeks on committing to
more manageable patient loads. The union said Monday that the
tentative agreements would increase staffing and otherwise address
those concerns.
The union has also sought workplace security upgrades and
restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence. Hospital
staffers’ longstanding security concerns flared into public view
when a gunman entered Mount Sinai in November and a man holed up in
a Brooklyn hospital with a sharp object last month. Police killed
both men.
The hospitals said the union’s demands were exorbitant. They say
unionized nurses’ salaries already average $162,000 to $165,000 a
year, not including benefits.
The nurses have countered that top hospital executives make millions
of dollars a year.
Not every hospital in the three health care systems was affected by
the strike, nor were any city-run public hospitals. Other private
hospitals reached last-minute deals with the union.
Nurses staged a three-day strike in 2023 in the Mount Sinai and
Montefiore systems. They ultimately inked contracts that, among
other measures, raised pay 19% over three years.
___
Associated Press video journalists David R. Martin and Emily Wang
Fujiyama contributed to this report.
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