HCA Swedish nurses unionize

Staff report

National Nurse magazine - July | Aug | Sept 2026 Issue

Registered nurses at HCA HealthONE Swedish, also known as Swedish Medical Center, in Englewood, Colo., voted to join National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the country’s largest nurses union, in an election held on July 1 and 2, 2026.

“This is a huge victory for the nurses at our hospital and across the HCA system nationwide,” said Christina Michas, RN in the general rehabilitation unit at Swedish. “We showed HCA that, even when they try to illegally interfere with our elections, nurses will hold them accountable and keep fighting until we win the union protections we need.”

The second election comes after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the employer, HCA Healthcare, the country’s largest hospital system, illegally interfered with a previous union election held in 2024. That now-invalidated 2024 election was marred by illegal interference by the employer. 

Nearly 800 nurses work at Swedish, and, since the first election, staff turnover at the facility has been so high that only about only one-third of nurses who worked at the hospital in 2024 still work there today. Nurses at Swedish say the high turnover is emblematic of the issues they face at the facility and are excited to address those issues in bargaining.

With their election victory in hand, nurses are able to start negotiations on their first union contract, which could address issues that are driving nurses away from the facility and endangering patients.

HCA has appealed the NLRB’s ruling to hold a second election, the one now won by the nurses. This is another nasty attempt by HCA to trample nurses’ union rights. NNOC intends to stand by nurses until the end.  

NNOC now represents nearly 800 nurses at HCA HealthONE Swedish, a 504-bed Level 1 trauma center. CNA/NNOC already represents more than 10,000 HCA nurses at 19 facilities in seven states from coast to coast.