2026 Nurse Strikes: Complete List of Active and Planned Strikes
Image: NJ.com
Recent years have shown a significant rise in nursing strikes, with more and more nurses utilizing their unionizations to fight for better pay and safer working conditions for both patients and staff.
Here's where the nursing strikes are currently standing in 2026.
Current Nurse Strikes:
- Henry Ford Genesys Hospital (Grand Blanc, MI): Hundreds of nurses at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, MI remain on strike with no agreement reached. The hospital implemented wage increases while negotiations continued, which the union disputes. Henry Ford Genesys and Teamsters Local 332 issued a joint statement saying they have reached an “important milestone” in negotiations and are “optimistic” about ending the dispute, but they have not announced a tentative agreement yet.
Pending Nurse Strikes:
- Boston Medical Center (BMC) South in Brockton (Massachusetts): Nurses and healthcare professionals represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association voted overwhelmingly to authorize a potential three-day strike during first-contract negotiations with their new employer. Roughly 480 staff members say proposed cuts to staffing levels, retirement benefits, health insurance, and paid time off are at the center of the dispute. No strike date has been announced.
- Wills Eye Hospital (Philadelphia, PA): Nurses and technicians represented by PASNAP have held informational pickets and set a potential strike deadline while negotiating a new contract. Workers are pushing for improved wages, staffing, and job security.
- Northern Maine Medical Center (Fort Kent, Maine) : Nurses voted in September 2025 to authorize a strike during ongoing contract negotiations over staffing, wages, and working conditions. No strike dates have been announced, but the authorization allows union leaders to call a strike if negotiations stall.
- St. Luke’s Hospital (MA): Nurses held an informational picket highlighting concerns about staffing levels and wages as contract negotiations continue.
- Howard Brown Health (IL): Nurses voted to authorize a strike citing concerns about pay, benefits, staffing, and patient safety. No walkout has been scheduled.
- Oregon Health & Science University (OR): Oregon Health & Science University, ONA‑represented nurses have previously authorized an open‑ended strike and remain in an ongoing contract dispute, while a newer group of roughly 1,700 research workers represented by AFSCME are preparing a separate strike‑authorization vote in early 2026.
Recently Passed Nursing Strikes:
- USC Keck Hospital & USC Norris Cancer Center (California): Registered nurses at USC Keck Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Center held a seven-day strike from February 19 to February 26, 2026. Nurses cited concerns about proposed health-benefit changes, staffing levels, and missed meal and rest breaks. Hospital officials said they offered wage increases, a no-premium health plan, and additional resource nurses, but nurses rejected the tentative agreement.
- New York‑Presbyterian/Columbia, Montefiore, and Mount Sinai (New York):
Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore, and Mount Sinai launched a coordinated strike on January 12, 2026. The walkout became the largest nurses’ strike in New York City history. All three groups have since ratified new three-year contracts and returned to work, with NewYork-Presbyterian nurses approving their agreement on February 20 after a 41-day strike.
- Centinela Hospital Medical Center (California): Nurses have called a 1‑day strike starting Feb. 19 over chronic short staffing, patient safety concerns, and stalled negotiations on wages and benefits.
- Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana (CA): Registered nurses and licensed healthcare professionals at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in California began a five-day strike on February 16, 2026. The nurses, represented by SEIU Local 121RN, cite concerns over unsafe staffing levels, working conditions, and proposed changes to benefits and retirement contributions. Negotiations between the union and hospital management are ongoing as the strike continues.
- West Anaheim Medical Center (CA): More than 360 nurses at West Anaheim Medical Center in California began a three-day strike on February 17, 2026. Represented by the California Nurses Association, they cite unsafe staffing, patient safety concerns, and stalled contract negotiations.
- Kaiser Permanente Hospitals (CA, HI): More than 31,000 UNAC/UHCP nurses and healthcare professionals at Kaiser Permanente in California and Hawaii remain on an open‑ended strike that began January 26 over staffing, wages, and alleged labor law violations.This week, several thousand pharmacy and lab workers represented by UFCW joined the walkout in a three‑day ULP strike that is ending today, while the larger nurses’ strike continues with no set end date.
- MarinHealth (CA): healthcare workers did in fact hold their planned one-day strike on Feb. 18, 2026. Registered nurses represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) and nearly 500 technical and professional staff represented by Teamsters Local 856 walked off the job for a 24-hour strike over stalled contract negotiations, safe-staffing and rising employee health care costs.
Reasons To Strike
Nurses go on strike for many systemic reasons including, but not limited to, inadequate pay, unsafe working conditions, and unsafe staffing ratios. Often, with the assistance of their union, nurses work to negotiate contracts with their employers. Oftentimes, nurses are able to negotiate a better contract without the need to go on strike.
However, sometimes negotiations reach a standstill, with neither party reaching an agreement. When this happens, nurses protest by refusing to go to work until agreeable terms are met.
In particular, safer nurse-to-patient staffing ratios have been at the forefront of concerns that have driven recent nursing strike authorizations across the country.
According to the 2023 State of Nursing Report conducted by Nurse.org, 91% of nurses believe the nursing shortage is getting worse and that burnout, poor working conditions, and inadequate pay are the primary causes. In addition, 79% of nurses said their units are inadequately staffed and 71% said that improving staffing ratios would have the greatest impact on the nursing shortage.
Nurses are becoming more vocal about these feelings and experiences and are choosing to take action through striking.
🤔 Nurses, do you have information on current, planned, or recent strikes? Share your thoughts in the discussion forum below, or email info@nurse.org.
