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https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/2026-nysna3

Presby nurses have told Nancy Hagans exactly what she can do with the rotten deal she tried to forcefeed them. Now, the nurses have a fighting chance to win something of actual value. But the backstabbing Hagans, Pat Kane and their cronies in the upper NYSNA leadership clearly cannot be trusted to bring home a strike victory. The nurses who have been on the front lines of the strike from its outset must act now to prevent any further demobilization and dirty tricks on the part of the bureaucrats. Militant nurses should immediately elect a strike committee to take leadership of their struggle and ensure it is organized in a way that can make the hospital bosses concede. Here are some steps that a strike committee could take:

  • Call on Mt. Sinai and Montefiore nurses to stay out until a contract is agreed to by all as the union originally pledged. They could get a lot better for themselves in the process, because none of the TAs gave nurses what they truly need.

  • Call out other NYSNA nurses throughout the city. They had their strike notices withdrawn by the Hagans team, and many are now paying the price. For example, Brooklyn Hospital Center has stripped nurses of healthcare and stopped funding their pensions. Bosses regularly violate union contracts to their benefit. Nurses and other trade unionists must not let the defense of their needs be crippled by contractual no-strike clauses.

  • Call on other unions to join the strike. Many, above all 1199, have contracts that are expiring soon and would be well served to do everything to strengthen their hand in preparation for the battles ahead.

  • Call on the Harlem and Inwood communities and working people more broadly to build the picket lines. A victory for the nurses would be a victory for the cause of quality healthcare for all.

  • Send union teams into the hospitals to decide on and provide essential patient care and ensure the safe discharge or transfer of nonessential cases. There is no excuse for scabs, period.

Let’s build bigger, stronger picket lines that keep the scabs out and force the hospital bosses to fold.