RNs in Tennessee, Arizona, Illinois, and California file petitions for union elections

Registered nurses continue growing national union movement

Registered nurses across the country continue to build their union movement, asserting their collective power against a profit-driven health care system and a corporate-aligned federal government. California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) announced today that nurses at four hospitals - which in total employ 4,500 nurses and serve more than 1.7 million patients annually - filed petitions over the past week with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for union elections. These elections are just the start of realizing CNA/NNOC's serious commitment, made at its convention just last month, of doubling its RN membership over the next decade.

The hospitals where nurses will vote to join CNA/NNOC are: Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California; Flagstaff Medical Center in Arizona; Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois; and CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Nurses across these four distinct hospitals and regions are organizing unions to address the decline in working conditions and safe patient care that are systemic across U.S. hospitals. There are more than 1.1 million registered nurses with active licenses who are not working as nurses. Many choose not to work at the bedside because of conditions set by hospital employers, including, but not limited to: unsafe staffing practices, inadequate workplace violence prevention measures, and a refusal to meaningfully include nurses and other health care workers in key patient care issues like A.I.

"The people of Flagstaff deserve the best possible medical care, and nurses are unionizing to make sure we have a voice in providing it," said Chelsea Madsen, RN in Flagstaff Medical Center's transfer center in Arizona. "Voting to join NNOC means we'll be able to fight for a contract that gives us a say in how our hospital runs, which is exactly what nurses and patients need."

"Nurses are hard at work every day taking care of our patients at St. Joseph," said Susie Prince, RN in the pulmonary renal unit at Providence St. Joseph Hospital Orange in California. "We're unionizing because we know that we can advocate for our patients and ourselves at the bargaining table. When nurses stand together to fight for our patients, we win."

"We are very proud to file our petition to hold a union election to join National Nurses Organizing Committee," said Amy Alaimo-Kruse, RN in the women and children's float pool at Endeavor Health Edward Hospital. "We want to have a voice in patient care and be strong advocates for our patients and ourselves."

"We are organizing at our hospital to ensure that our patients can get the high-quality care that they deserve," said Bridget Rhoades, RN in the medical surgical float poolat CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital Chattanooga. "Since CommonSpirit took over the hospital, we have seen our staffing cut drastically and our equipment and supplies are constantly broken and missing. We know that by forming a union, we will be able to make our voices heard and improve care at our hospital for all our patients."

The crisis in the U.S. health care care system, which extends beyond nurse recruitment and retention, is bound to be exacerbated by the trillion dollar federal health care cuts that are set to take effect after the November midterm elections. Ten million people are expected to lose their insurance by 2034 and more than 600 hospitals are at risk of cuts and closure. NNU's Red Alert Tour has highlighted how hospitals are already using the funding cuts to further cut corners on staffing and limit services.

"Nurses aren't just organizing unions at their facilities, they are also advancing a Vision for a Healthy Society," said CNA/NNOC President Sandy Reding, RN. "Growing nurses' power in the hospital and health care industry will enable us to win a world that reflects our profession's values of care and compassion, rather than the cruelty and recklessness of our current system that puts profits over patients. Union nurses fight for guaranteed health care for everyone, for people's freedom to live without fear in the communities they choose, and a government and society that isn't dominated by corporate interests."

While election dates are yet to be set at the four hospitals, nurses at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland are expected to hold their union election to join CNA/NNOC on Oct. 14 and 15. In the summer of 2026, more than 1,200 nurses across three facilities in the Prime Healthcare system voted to join CNA/NNOC.

CNA/NNOC President Reding, RN concluded, "In a time where there is a profound absence of leadership at all levels of our government and our institutions, nurses are leading the way, and demonstrating that it is possible to be both principled and victorious."

CNA/NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing union of registered nurses in the nation.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee represents more than 180,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout the country. CNA/NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.