NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital nurses walked out six weeks ago demanding better staffing, higher wages and protections from workplace violence. The New York State Nurses Association revealed the latest tentative pact early Friday. Union leaders set a snap ratification vote, giving strikers little time to review terms.

One anonymous nurse told the World Socialist Web Site she felt “deeply disgusted” by the proposal. Some strikers believe it offers less than the first deal, which they rejected by a three-to-one margin just over a week ago. That earlier vote defied NYSNA President Nancy Hagans and other top officials who overrode the local bargaining team’s decision to advance it.

The hospital promised to add a small number of nurses to its emergency department and catheterization lab, two chronically understaffed units. NYSNA did not specify how many new positions. Recent union deals at other New York hospitals provide a clue. Mount Sinai agreed to hire 30 full-time workers there despite nurses demanding 700.

NewYork-Presbyterian skipped staffing enforcement language included in 2023 pacts at Mount Sinai and Montefiore Medical Center. Those provisions have proven weak. Arbitrators fined Mount Sinai millions for understaffing violations since then. The hospital treats penalties as a business expense, according to union complaints. NewYork-Presbyterian appealed a recent arbitrator ruling this week ordering nearly $400,000 in back pay for pediatric intensive care nurses. That case stemmed from a 2023 NYSNA grievance still unresolved on appeal.

The new deal offers annual raises totaling about 12 percent over three years across NewYork-Presbyterian and three other hospitals. Nurses sought 30 percent. Inflation has eroded such modest increases. Rising costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs could outpace them this year, strikers say.

NYSNA claims the agreement bolsters protections against workplace violence. Nurses struck partly over such dangers. An attempted shooting rocked Mount Sinai’s emergency department in November 2025. Union statements provide no specifics on the new safeguards.

The hospital’s board includes billionaires like Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, William Lauder of Estée Lauder Companies and Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone. New York City’s 2025 poverty rate hit 25 percent, per the Robin Hood Foundation, while Forbes counts 123 billionaires in the city. Any one could fund the nurses’ demands, critics argue. Management holds firm instead.

NYSNA’s handling drew backlash. Hagans and Executive Director Pat Kane pushed the first rejected deal despite local opposition, violating bylaws according to strikers. Beth Loudin, a NewYork-Presbyterian executive committee member and Democratic Socialists of America affiliate, joined protests against them then. She now backs the second pact alongside Hagans.

This strike began after NYSNA canceled walkouts at 11 other facilities. NewYork-Presbyterian was one of four hospitals left. Nurses receive no strike pay. Prolonged picketing without progress has fatigued the ranks. Rejecting this deal alone may not suffice, some say. NYSNA could return with similar terms later.

Strikers originally demanded nurse-to-patient ratios, job security and reinstatement for fired colleagues like three labor and delivery nurses at Mount Sinai. Contracts at 11 New York City and Long Island hospitals expired December 31, 2025. Expanding the action there remains a rallying cry.