Jason,
Over 4 weeks ago, the largest nurses strike in New York City history began–with 15,000 nurses taking to the streets. On Wednesday, two hospitals and over 10,000 nurses finally reached agreements. But there are still nearly 5,000 nurses out on the streets picketing. They're fighting for healthcare benefits for frontline nurses, safe staffing ratios, higher wages, and stronger protections against workplace violence. These are the basic resources they need to do their jobs and actually care for their patients.
You know who's been out there with them? Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who we helped elect last year, stood in solidarity on the picket line alongside Bernie Sanders, demanding hospital management reach a fair agreement.
This is precisely why we need more essential workers, including nurses, in office. Nurses don't just talk about change. They organize, they advocate, and they get shit done.
We've seen this with Molly Cook, the ER nurse we helped elect to the Texas State Senate. She became the youngest person and first openly LGBTQ+ senator in Texas history, winning by just 62 votes. Last year she announced her "Nurse, First" legislative agenda which is aimed at improving the health, safety, and quality of life of working and middle-class Texans.
We've also seen the importance of healthcare workers having a voice in power with Lauren Underwood, the youngest Black woman ever elected to Congress, who went from being a registered nurse to co-founding the Black Maternal Health Caucus and fighting for health equity.
Nurses live and work in a broken system every day, dealing with impossible numbers of patients and understaffing issues that literally cost lives. This system still refuses to listen, so when nurses run for office, they don't waste time, they get to work.
For now, here's how you can support the NYC nurses strike: show up on the picket lines in solidarity. Donate to strike funds providing food and other supplies to nurses that have been out of work for weeks. Amplify their voices by sharing their demands, signing petitions, emailing CEOS of hospitals.
This fight affects all of us, because when nurses are taken care of, we are all taken care of. This is a fight we have to take on.
In solidarity,
Leaders We Deserve
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