RNs and health care workers strike at three Prime hospitals

Staff report

National Nurse magazine - April | May | June 2026 Issue

Registered nurses at three Prime Healthcare facilities held strikes during the same week in February. Nurses at West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, Calif. held a three-day strike starting on Feb. 17, nurses at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., held a one-day strike on Feb. 18, and RNs and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif. held a one-day strike on Feb. 19. The nurses are members of California Nurses Association (CNA), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), and the health care workers are members of Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union (CHEU), an affiliate of CNA. The RNs and health care workers urged management to invest in nursing and health care staff and agree to a contract that provides safe staffing and a commitment to practices that recruit and retain workers. 

Shasta Regional staff have been in negotiations since August, Saint Mary’s nurses since last summer, and West Anaheim RNs since February 2025. CNA/CHEU represents 600 nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional. NNOC/NNU represents 350 nurses at Saint Mary’s. CNA represents more than 360 nurses at West Anaheim.

“High turnover and short staffing have a negative effect on safe patient care,” said Liz Rivera, RN in the West Anaheim intensive care unit. “We are striking because every patient deserves an experienced RN, not a nurse who’s overwhelmed and covering too many patients.”