Responding to pleas from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul to head back to the bargaining table, the two sides in the New York City nurses’ strike resumed negotiations on Thursday in hopes of returning 15,000 workers to their patients’ bedside.
Ms. Hochul’s office said that she has been having discussions with the nurses’ union and hospitals every day during the walkout.
“The governor continues to strongly urge both sides to continue negotiations until an agreement is reached that acknowledges the pivotal role nurses play in ensuring our health care systems deliver high-quality care to New Yorkers and their families,” Nicolette Simmonds, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul, said.
The president of the New York State Nurses Association, Nancy Hagans, said that the union had received a message early this week from Ms. Hochul and Mr. Mamdani asking the union to go back to the bargaining table. The hospitals did not comment about whether they also received a message.
“We made it very clear that we were always willing, available and ready to negotiate and that it was up to them to reach out to the employers,” Ms. Hagans said in an interview. “The employers obviously listened to the governor and the mayor.”
The union said it intends to meet each day with hospital negotiators until a tentative agreement is reached.
“With continued support of mediators, nurses plan on bargaining daily to settle fair contracts that protect patient and nurse safety,” the union said in a statement.
Kenneth E. Raske, the president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group, said that he hopes an agreement will be reached, but he said that negotiations will be a struggle until the union accepts the reality that hospitals are in a financial bind with the passing of President Trump’s domestic policy law, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“The hard reality is that hospitals are in a tremendous financial squeeze by the bill, and the amount of economic calamity that they’re facing is something that we have never seen before,” Mr. Raske said.
The mayor’s office did not respond to questions about Mr. Mamdani’s role in urging both sides to resume negotiations.
The strike, which began on Jan. 12, affects some of the top hospitals in the city, including NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, Montefiore Medical Center and the main campus of Mount Sinai Hospital, along with two other hospitals in the Mount Sinai system.
During earlier bargaining sessions, the nurses’ union met separately with negotiators from each hospital on different days. Thursday was notable because the union and representatives from the three affected hospital systems met in separate rooms in one building on the same day, starting at 4 p.m.
Last week, the three medical systems met with the nurses’ union for hours, but failed to reach common ground. After a bargaining session between the nurses and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, the hospital said that the union’s proposals were “unreasonable,” and that both parties left “far apart.”
Mount Sinai’s chief executive, Brendan G. Carr, had said that bargaining last Friday had made minimal progress.
The strike revolves around a range of issues, including workplace safety, staffing levels and pay and benefits.
Nurses have complained for years that many hospital units are persistently understaffed, with nurses caring for too many patients at the same time. They have also sought more protection in dealing with patients who are mentally ill and may become aggressive.
Pay is another key matter, although it is rarely mentioned on the nurses’ picket lines. Hospital officials have said that nurses are seeking raises that could propel salaries on average past $200,000 a year.
Mr. Mamdani backed nurses on the picket line on Tuesday for a second time, alongside Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and called for a resolution to the walkout. Speaking to hundreds of nurses, the mayor said that the strike is not about money, but the worth of nurses in New York City. He said that striking was the last resort and that nurses want to be back at work.
“We call on every side to come back to that negotiating table — have a swift and urgent resolution,” Mr. Mamdani said.
As nurses continue to walk picket lines in the bitter cold, many expressed concerns about their patients inside. The New York City Emergency Management Department has not received any reports of major issues related to the walkout.
Glendys Rodriguez, 35, a nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian, said that she intends to stay on strike for as long as it takes union representatives and hospital executives to reach an agreement, although it pains her and her colleagues.
“We had staff crying throughout the week,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “We’re worried about the patients that couldn’t leave the hospital and are there with short staff.”
Grace Ashford contributed reporting.
Samantha Latson is a Times reporter covering New York City and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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