After nearly a month on the picket line, in the bitter cold and through snowstorms, tentative agreements (TAs) have emerged from the historic New York City nurses strike. While nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai have accepted contracts that fell short of their demands, one hospital’s nurses continue fighting: New York Presbyterian (NYP).

NYP nurses have defied their union leaderships and opted to stay on the picket line with 80 percent rejecting the bureaucratic contract. While the hospital’s NYSNA Executive Committee (EC) initially rejected the mediator-proposed contract, which they argued lacked the staffing improvements secured at other hospitals and contained other unacceptable provisions, in an antidemocratic maneuver, the upper NYSNA leadership overruled the EC and forced a TA vote among the membership.

NYSNA leadership even went on the offensive urging nurses to vote yes on the backhanded proposal. In a video in an email sent out by the union, NYSNA president Nancy Hagans says, “You have fought so hard to get to this point. Your voice and your vote matter. And this is why we are calling for a ratification vote on this offer.” Executive director Pat Kane appears with Hagans in the video and adds, “The simple fact is that we’ve reached the end of negotiations.”

Their words were a huge slap in the face to nurses who have spent weeks fighting on the picket lines.

Yet despite NYSNA leadership’s betrayals, the NYP EC urged a NO vote on the forced contract. This led to a majority of nurses, despite their own union leadership’s best efforts to sabotage, voting to reject the proposed TA. The leadership had pulled every bureaucratic lever to force the contract through, and the rank and file refused. In an era of pre-packaged “victories,” NYP nurses voted to keep fighting for what they deserve.

Hollow Victories at Montefiore and Mount Sinai

Nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai, meanwhile, have approved the new contracts, but many say it’s a hollow victory — the agreement is disappointing, and nurses feel betrayed by their union leaderships.

The tentative agreement, proposed by a mediator and accepted by the hospital’s EC, does not include the reinstatement of three Labor & Delivery nurses whom members say were wrongfully terminated on the eve of the strike in January.

At Montefiore, the wage increases are a meager 12 percent over three years — less than the rising cost of living, and far below the originally proposed 30 percent. Immigrant protections sought by members are also absent from the agreement. In comments online, nurses have shared they believe that “management won” and that they “don’t see this as a win.” The frustration is palpable.

The new contracts also lack guarantees regarding both job security and the addition of 60 full-time equivalent positions. Staffing language remains narrow and unit specific. Many bedside nurses fear that unacceptable conditions — hallway patients, chronic understaffing, and unsafe workloads — will remain unchanged.

And though the tentative agreements at Mount Sinai and Montefiore preserve core benefits such as healthcare and pensions, many argue that the broader goals of the strike were not met. At both hospitals, the contracts represent a step back from what nurses initially demanded — and what they deserve.

Architects of Defeat

Beyond the contract terms, members have also expressed deep disappointment with the union bureaucracy. Critics argue that rank-and-file voices were sidelined in favor of decisions made by upper leadership. For many, this is not the first time being betrayed by union leadership, which only exacerbates frustrations with the outcome of the strike.

The NYSNA leadership has moved from class struggle to outright class collaboration. Their decision to try to bypass the NYP Executive Committee and push through a TA in violation of the union’s own bylaws is a clear political choice on behalf of the boss and the capitalist state.

This bureaucracy, like all union bureaucracies more broadly, fears a victorious, mobilized membership more than it fears the hospital corporations and bosses. The sooner a strike ends, the sooner they can claim victory and prevent the struggle from spreading and joining others in solidarity — including the healthcare worker strike in California and resistance to ICE’s brutality in Minnesota (and around the country).

Now, while union leadership is moving forward with ratification votes, many rank-and-file nurses across the major hospital systems say the outcome feels less like a victory and more like a concession.

Of course, it’s not just the union leadership that betrayed the nurses. During their struggle, NYSNA nurses watched as the hospitals spent millions hiring scabs to break their strike and spread lies about nurses being “greedy.” And beyond the hospital bosses, elected Democrats, too, thwarted the nurses’ struggle.

Governor Kathy Hochul helped the bosses in their strikebreaking by issuing Executive Order 56, which suspended licensing requirements, creating a pipeline for unlimited out-of-state scab labor. Despite this, Mayor Zohran Mamdani — the same “socialist” who visited the strike with Bernie Sanders to show his solidarity — decided to endorse her run for re-election. Mamdani’s NYPD even arrested nurses protesting outside the headquarters of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA).

The Way Forward: Rank-and-File Power

While Hagans and Kane move to ratify concessions, NYP nurses are demonstrating what real, rank-and-file unionism looks like: democratic, militant, and uncompromising. This is a reminder that workers — not the bureaucrats — are the strength of unions and should always lead our fights. They are showing that our victories will not come from our leaderships who are tied to the bosses and the status quo.

Nor can we rely on politicians — even supposedly “progressive” Democrats — to win our demands. Whether officials attack us openly like Republicans or embrace us on the picket line while undermining our struggle, their function is the same: to preserve the capitalist system that prioritizes corporate profit over human life.

Our victories will only come from the independent organization of the working class.

This strike has exposed more than just a contract dispute — it has laid bare the priorities of hospital executives, union bureaucrats, and politicians alike. If nurses are to secure the safe staffing, protections, and dignity they deserve, it will require not just solidarity on the picket line but an effort to strengthen their unions from within — to take them back as fighting organizations rooted firmly in the interests of rank-and-file workers.

And in light of the continuing strike at NYP in defiance of the bosses and the bureaucrats, there must be stronger calls for the whole Left in New York City and workers across the country to surround the nurses with solidarity in this fight.

The post Despite Betrayal by NYSNA Leadership, New York Presbyterian Nurses Stay on the Picket Lines appeared first on Left Voice.

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