Thousands of nurses go on strike at several major New York City hospitals

By TED SHAFFREY, JENNIFER PELTZ and DAVID R. MARTIN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses in New York City went on strike Monday after negotiations through the weekend yielded no breakthroughs in disputes with three major hospital systems over staffing, benefits and other issues.

“Nurses on strike! … Fair contract now!” nurses shouted on a picket line outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s campus in Upper Manhattan. Others picketed at hospitals in the Mount Sinai and Montefiore systems, where a 2023 nursing strike fed off pandemic-era frustrations and led to a deal to boost staffing and pay.

“And now, it’s how they’re treating us: They don’t want to give us a fair contract, and they don’t want to give us safe staffing, and now they’re trying to roll back on our benefits,” emergency department nurse Tristan Castillo said Monday outside Mount Sinai West.

About 15,000 nurses are involved in the strike, according to their union, the New York State Nurses Association. The hospitals remained open, hiring droves of temporary nurses to try to fill the labor gap.

The strike involves private, nonprofit hospita...