The New York City nurses' strike has entered its second day, with thousands of healthcare workers returning to picket lines on Tuesday, 13 January 2026. Major hospital systems are responding by hiring temporary replacement nurses to manage the significant labour gap.
Scale and Scope of the Industrial Action
Approximately 15,000 nurses are participating in the walkout, affecting several of the city's leading private hospitals. The institutions impacted include NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, Montefiore Medical Center, and Mount Sinai Hospital. The timing is particularly challenging, coinciding with a severe flu season that is already placing immense pressure on healthcare services.
Core Dispute: Staffing and Safety
At the heart of the dispute, echoing a similar strike three years prior, are critical staffing issues. The nurses' unions accuse the large, non-profit medical centres of failing to agree to enforceable commitments for safe and manageable patient workloads. They argue that chronic understaffing compromises patient care and burns out existing staff.
In contrast, the hospitals involved in negotiations state they have made significant progress on staffing in recent years. They characterise the union's demands as financially unsustainable, claiming the costs would be prohibitively expensive.
Response and Political Reaction
To maintain services, the affected hospitals have moved swiftly to hire droves of temporary nurses. Both hospital administrators and striking nurses have publicly urged patients not to delay seeking essential medical care during the industrial action.
The strike has drawn political attention, with New York City's new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, joining nurses on the picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian on Monday. He voiced strong support for the strikers, praising their fight for "dignity, respect and the fair pay and treatment that they deserve."
The situation recalls the 2023 nurses' strike, which forced some facilities to transfer patients and divert ambulances. All parties are now watching closely to see if this renewed action will lead to a breakthrough in negotiations or further escalate the disruption to New York's healthcare system.
