Feminist Generation Stands with the Striking Nurses of New York
February 9th, 2026
Feminist Generation stands in unwavering solidarity with the 15,000 nurses–most of them women–of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) on strike for their lives, their patients’ lives, and justice in healthcare.
As we enter day twenty-nine of the largest nurses’ strike in New York City history, over 10,000 nurses have reached a tentative agreement. Thousands more remain on the picket line. These nurses are showing us what it looks like to fight for a feminist future. When working women and queer people of the world unite and refuse to comply with business as usual, our communities win.
Feminist Generation joins the nurses of New York City in calling for higher wages, increased staffing, just benefits, and protections against workplace violence. We echo their demands to protect gender-affirming care for all patients and prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from entering hospitals.
This historic strike comes after months of dismissed organizing. We are outraged that nurses have been driven to strike by hospital executives and political leaders who continue to prioritize profit over people.
Nurses–disproportionately women, immigrants, and people of color–have cared for our communities through crisis after crisis. In return, they face unsafe staffing, impossible workloads, stagnant wages, and retaliation for demanding the most basic protections. This is not a failure of nurses. This is a failure of a healthcare system built on racial and gendered violence and exploitation.
This strike is about survival, for nurses and for the communities they serve. This strike is a necessary disruption. After all, what is truly disruptive is a system that treats nurses as disposable.
What is truly violent is allowing ICE to enter hospital facilities and stripping patients of access to gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare. We applaud the NYSNA for their bravery in not complying as they picket outside their hospitals in freezing temperatures.
This moment demands more than temporary concessions. We demand fully staffed hospitals, fair wages, and working conditions that honor the dignity of care work. We demand massive public investment in healthcare and into our communities, not detention, deportation, and state violence.
Nurses deserve more. Patients deserve more. Our communities deserve more.
We call on all feminists, labor organizers, patients, and community members to stand with striking nurses and fight for justice in healthcare. When nurses rise, we rise with them.
Working women and queer people of the world unite.
Solidarity forever.