If it feels like Nurses are walking out more often than they used to, you are not imagining it. The numbers prove it and the pace is picking up. Nurse.org tracked 100+ confirmed Registered Nurse (RN) walkouts from 2017 through 2026. In 2017, our database records five confirmed Nurse Strikes. In 2025, there were 21. By mid-October 2026, the year was on pace to match or pass that total. Two honest notes on that climb. Some of the recent increase comes from the same Hospitals striking more than once, often several short walkouts during a single contract fight, which lifts the yearly count. And Strikes from the late 2010s are simply harder to document than today's, so the earliest years may still be undercounted, even after a full review of annual Strike roundups and Union archives. Even allowing for both, the direction is unmistakable - and independent trackers see the same thing. Cornell University's Labor Action Tracker found Health Care Strikes rose 58% in 2025 over the year before, with the number of Workers involved more than doubling. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports education and health services accounted for 64% of all Workers idled by major Strikes in 2025, more than any other sector. The jump follows the staffing crisis nurses have lived with since 2020. When we looked at the reasons behind every walkout, staffing came up in nearly every one. Pay and patient care each came up in more than half, but unsafe assignments and being stretched too thin are what Nurses name most often.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Story, Go To: Nurse Strikes Have Quadrupled Since 2017. Here's Why It Keeps Growing | Nurse.org

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