National Nurses United

J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 13 WRAP-UP REPORT California registered nurses at seven facilities across the state ratified new contracts over the summer. In June, nurses at Chinese Hospital in San Francisco ratified a three-year pact that includes training shifts and improved condi- tions for new hires and time to work on workplace violence prevention. In July, RNs at HCA's Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose ratified a five-year agreement that includes improvements to break relief, workplace vio- lence protections, staffing transparency, and wage increases of up to 45 percent for some nurses over the life of the contract. On the Central Coast, Adventist Health nurses at Adventist Health Sierra Vista in San Luis Obispo, and Adventist Health Twin Cities in Templeton approved a contract in July that includes expanding the staff RN committee to increase patient safety and maintain current health care benefits. In Southern California in July, nurses at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three- year contract that includes benefits to improve recruitment and retention of staff nurses, improved language on safe staffing and RN advocacy, and improvement to protected leaves. RNs at Alhambra Hospital Medical Center in Alhambra ratified a four-year agree- ment that includes improvements to floating, health and safety, and staffing. RNs at Memo- rialCare Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children's and Women's Hospital in Long Beach, ratified a new three-year agree- ment with improvements to RN committee language, grievance and arbitration language, floating language and clusters, and workplace violence prevention. Alhambra and Long Beach nurses held historic one-day strikes in May before settling their contracts. Florida nurses from three Healthcare Systems of America (HSA) hospitals in Florida—Pal- metto General Hospital in Hialeah, Coral Gables Hospital in Coral Gables, and Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes—held a joint rally in July in Hialeah to highlight their patient safety concerns as they begin bargaining a new contract. The nurses, rep- resented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), work at hospitals that were previously owned by Steward Healthcare and were sold off last year during bankruptcy proceed- ings. Under Steward's tenure, the hospital build- ings were allowed to fall into disrepair, equipment remained bro- ken, and supplies were in short supply. Unfortunately, these problems have per- sisted under HSA's ownership. "We want to remind HSA that it was the nurses who held these hospitals together through the pan- demic and bankruptcy," said Lazaro Garcia, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Palmetto General Hospital. "Now we need them to address our concerns." Missouri in july, nurses at HCA's Research Medical Center in Kansas City spoke out against the planned end of their hospital's labor and delivery, neonatal intensive, and obstetrics emergency care services. Nurses say these service shutdowns will leave patients with fewer options for essential health care for new parents and babies. In addition to the special- ized care provided in labor and delivery and a level three neonatal intensive care unit that provides critical care, impacted services will include emergency obstetrics care, gynecolog- ical consults, emergency cesarean sections, and outpatient clinics for babies. In August, RNs held a vigil for patients impacted by planned service shutdowns at their hospital. Nurses highlighted what this closure means for Kansas City patients and how the hospital's ownership, HCA Healthcare, has mismanaged and cut resources to these units for years, laying the groundwork to justify its decision to shutter these services. "HCA has spent years moving services away from our hospital to neighborhoods with higher rates of private insurance because they only care about cashing in on patients," said Margo Fohey, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit at Research Medical Center, where she's worked for more than 30 years. "Research is in a part of our city that is primarily Black, and, overall, we see more patients than any other HCA facility in our area. HCA is abandoning these parents and babies because they're not profitable, not because they don't need these services." —Staff report From top: Long Beach nurses on strike; Healthcare Systems of America nurses in Florida kick off bargaining

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