University of California RNs kick off 2025 bargaining

Critical round of talks as system dramatically expands

By Michelle Morris

National Nurse magazine - April | May | June 2025 Issue

Registered nurses working at University of California medical centers (UC) held rallies across the state on June 10 to mark the start of their contract negotiations, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU). Nurses’ primary priority, across medical centers statewide, is reversing and halting the UC management’s growing practice of short-staffing its facilities, cutting back on resources, and forcing its hardworking, overstretched providers to do more work with less support.

“Nurses across the UC medical centers are united for a strong contract that holds the UC system accountable to its public mission,” said Kristan Delmarty, RN at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and a member of CNA’s board of directors. “Rather than behaving like a typical for-profit corporation, UC medical centers can invest in the public good and retain its world-class status by prioritizing safe staffing and workplace safety. We urge UC leaders to listen to the experiences of those of us who do the work of caring for patients and building its reputation.”

As part of the state-owned University of California system, the 25,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners who work at UC medical centers across the state — some of the most acclaimed teaching and research hospitals in the country — advocate every day for the health of their patients and the public. In some areas, such as Sacramento and San Diego, the UC medical center serves as the public hospital that takes all patients regardless of insurance status.

The UC medical system in recent years has been expanding rapidly, adding nine facilities to its existing network of 10 medical centers, and more are scheduled to open in coming years. The number of UC nurses represented by California Nurses Association has grown by nearly 40 percent due to these acquisitions, from 18,000 to 25,000, over the past 18 months. With its clout and power, UC can raise the bar across its medical system, rather than racing to the bottom like other for-profit hospital chains.

UC nurses have been ringing the alarm bell concerning practices like the use of “shadow beds” and long ER wait times that are a result of management’s prioritization of more profitable elective surgeries.

CNA represents 25,000 registered nurses across more than a dozen campuses. Their contracts will expire on Oct. 31, 2025.

Michelle Morris is a communications specialist for National Nurses United.