Registered nurses (RNs) held a one-day strike at Saint Agnes Hospital, which started Monday morning.
According to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the nurses are focused on seeing changes regarding patient safety and staff retention.
NNU says staff hours have been cut, resulting in the nurses' ability to give patients the care they deserve.
“Staffing is the No. 1 issue that our coworkers bring to us nurses on the bargaining team. When we have too many patients, we can’t provide the care we were trained to give,” said Gideon Eziama, RN in the cardiovascular telemetry unit.
“The hospital’s stubborn refusal to improve staffing in our contract is troubling. They should put patients over profits and agree to a fair contract now.”
Furthermore, NNU says Ascension, the healthcare system in which St. Agnes operates, reported over $900 million in net profit in the last fiscal year.
Nurses say they were told to cut their hours, while some nurses have been "floated" to different areas such as postpartum and pediatric units when they are not trained to care for babies, children, or new parents.
Saint Agnes says in a statement regarding the strike:
We are disappointed in the union’s decision to strike, recognizing the anxiety it can cause our patients and the hardship it brings to our associates and their families.
Providing safe, quality care remains our top priority. Saint Agnes will remain open and fully operational throughout the strike, with a comprehensive contingency plan in place to ensure uninterrupted patient care.
Saint Agnes and NNU have been negotiating an initial contract for registered nurses since January 2024.
After the hospital presented its last, best and final offer, the union did not submit a formal counter-proposal for nearly a year, or bring the hospital’s proposal to represented nurses for a vote.
The union only recently indicated it had developed a counter-proposal, which our hospital bargaining team met to review on May 28.
During that session, NNU’s bargaining team explicitly stated that the primary barrier to reaching an agreement is that Saint Agnes will not agree to NNU’s requirement that all nurses pay union dues.
Our focus remains on doing what is right for our nurses, including advocating for their right to choose whether or not to pay union dues and ensuring they continue to have market-competitive wages.
Through a letter of agreement we initiated, we have implemented wage increases the last two years while negotiations continue—with nurses receiving an average increase of 9% in 2025, and an additional average increase of 7% this year that will become effective on August 2, 2026.
Saint Agnes stands by our last, best and final offer as we believe it reflects our commitment to meeting and supporting the diverse needs of our nurses.
