News summary produced by Claude AI
Montefiore hospital in the Bronx terminated 12 nurses on Sunday, with the New York State Nurses Association indicating the positions were eliminated due to implementation of AI-powered software. Among those affected was Marilyn Shuler, a utilization review nurse with 39 years of experience at the facility who had assisted with patient chart reviews and insurance communication.
The layoffs occurred following a significant nurses strike across multiple New York City hospitals in January 2026. Union contracts negotiated after those labor actions included provisions intended to safeguard against AI-related workforce displacement. Shaiju Kalathil, a nurse and union executive committee member at Montefiore, characterized the terminations as a violation of the recently secured contract terms. Nursing union representatives have expressed concern that the action undermines protections workers fought to establish during strike negotiations.
Shuler described receiving notice of the layoffs on May 28, with a 45-day termination window provided to all affected nurses in her department. She indicated that workflow modifications had been introduced without explanation after staff returned from the strike in February, and that management did not respond to union inquiries about these changes until the layoff notices were issued. Shuler emphasized that roles in her department frequently required complex clinical communications regarding matters such as medication adjustments and discharge coordination, functions she argued were unsuitable for automated systems.
National Nurses United, the parent organization of the New York State Nurses Association, has positioned the Montefiore situation as potentially among the first major AI-related layoffs it has handled. The union has been advocating for legislative protections and contractual guardrails regarding AI implementation in healthcare settings. Montefiore representatives stated that technology changes were being deployed in nonclinical administrative functions rather than direct patient care roles, characterizing union statements as inaccurate and reaffirming the organization’s commitment to technological advancement in service delivery.