National Nurses United

O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C 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 california union nurses celebrated the passage of Proposition 50, which helps pro- tect democracy and levels the playing field in response to President Trump's congressional power grab. Nurses and other volunteers with the union knocked on more than 17,000 doors and made more than 394,500 calls, urging voters to vote Yes on Prop. 50. "We are grateful that California voters have unequivocally approved Prop. 50 to stand up to Texas and other states stealing the voting power of Black, Brown, and working-class people to maintain control in Congress," said Sandy Reding, RN and a president of CNA. "Prop. 50 fights back against the racist redistricting in Texas and other states. Elections matter. We saw what happened in July when the Republi- cans voted to pass H.R. 1, gutting Medicaid and taking health insurance away from millions of people to fund tax cuts for bil- lionaires and corporations. Now we must fight to get health care funding back for millions of people across the country. We must fight to restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers, including our VA nurses. And nurses know, when we fight, we win." Florida union nurses at Palmetto General Hos- pital in Hialeah, Coral Gables Hospital in Coral Gables, and Florida Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, held a rally in Novem- ber at Palmetto General Hospital as their contracts expired in September and negoti- ations for new three-year agreements with Healthcare Services of America (HSA) have stalled. Altogether, National Nurses Organ- izing Committee/National Nurses United represents 1,000 nurses at the three HSA facilities. Previously owned by Steward Health- care, these health care systems were part of the largest bankruptcy in decades, causing serious strain on nurses and adequate health care for the surrounding community. Nurses are demanding the new interim owners, HSA, focus on patient safety, com- petitive compensation for nurse retention, and other provisions for job security and well-being. "HSA has failed, up to this point, to address in any meaningful way our core demands of patient safety and employee retention," commented Lazaro Garcia, an intensive care unit RN at Palmetto General Hospital. The RNs' key priorities are enforceable staffing grids to ensure patient safety, hourly pro- tections, higher wages, and improved benefits. "We nurses are ready to do what it takes to win a fair deal," commented Talaya McDermott- Harrison, RN at Florida Medical Center. "HSA has proposed takebacks at negotiations rather than creatively addressing our needs for patient safety and employee retention." Illinois in september, registered nurses at Cook County Health ratified a two-year contract extension with protections for safe staffing and improvements to ensure patient safety and nurse retention. The nurses won $2,500 bonus pay, pay increases, including increases to preceptor pay and differentials. Cook County also agreed that agency staff nurses must become permanent staff within 180 days of ratification of the contract. Agency nurses who commit within two weeks will be able to keep their current shift. Additionally, union positions will be posted in all units and for all classifications where agency nurses have been employed for more than 30 days. There were no contract takeaways and benefits remain the same. —Staff report From top: Nurses get out the vote in support of Prop. 50; HSA nurses from three Florida facilities rally to turn up the heat on contract talks; nurses who work for Cook County Health, the public health system serving the larger Chicago area, celebrate a contract extension.

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