Governor Kathy Hochul Is Undermining Striking New York Nurses

[Omaha Steve]

https://jacobin.com/2026/02/governor-kathy-hochul-is-undermining-striking-new-york-nurses

By Alex N. Press

As a historic nurses’ strike enters its fourth week, New York governor Kathy Hochul has protected hospitals from the strike’s impact by making it easier to hire scabs and doing little to stop executives from dragging out a fight over staffing and safety.

On Monday morning, with temperatures below freezing, New York City nurses began the fourth week of the largest nursing strike in the city’s history, which has seen some fifteen thousand nurses across multiple Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian facilities walk off the job.

Hundreds of nurses kicked off the week by gathering near Grand Central Terminal and marching to Governor Kathy Hochul’s nearby office, aiming pressure at a state leader who has repeatedly extended an executive order allowing hospitals to more easily hire temporary and out-of-state replacement staff (referred to in union parlance as “scabs”), blunting the leverage of the work stoppage. Nurses’ demand is specific: Hochul should not extend the executive order again, removing a measure that has made it easier for hospital systems to staff around the strike. The latest extension expires today.

The striking nurses, represented by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), walked off the job at private hospitals across New York City on January 12. The strike does not include all NYSNA members statewide, nor nurses at public hospitals like those in the NYC Health + Hospitals system, who work under separate contracts.

FULL story at link above.


Nurses from NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center strike outside the hospital on January 12, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)