CNA represents 25,000 registered nurses at UC medical centers statewide

California Nurses Association (CNA) filed a lawsuit on Sept. 16 with other labor unions who represent workers at University of California (UC) campuses, medical centers, and institutes, centers, and research laboratories to stop the Trump’s administration’s coercive attempts to remake the UC system in alignment with the president’s ideology. CNA represents 25,000 registered nurses at UC medical centers across the state.

“As union nurses, we always speak up when our patients are needlessly and senselessly prevented from receiving the care they need,” said Maureen Dugan, RN at UCSF Parnassus and member of CNA Board of Directors. “We refuse to stand by as the Trump administration attempts to tell UC nurses how to provide care for our patients or tries to make our hospitals unsafe for our patients!”

The lawsuit represents a historic coalition of national and California labor unions, who charge that the U.S. federal government is illegally coercing the UC to engage in speech and behavior, in violation of the First Amendment.

Among the many concerning, authoritarian demands the Trump administration has placed on the UC – issued under the coercive threat of unlawful federal government funding cuts – nurses are gravely concerned about any agreement that would lead to forced cooperation with immigration enforcement, which could include giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to UC hospitals, and efforts to target gender-inclusive policies, which could include threatening gender-affirming care for minors.  

Maureen Dugan, RN continued, “In addition to attacking our most vulnerable patients, the funding cuts that Trump is threatening risk UC nurses’ ability to care for all the Californians who come to our medical centers for world-class care. These cuts also undermine the economic engine that is the UC, the second-largest employer in the state. Simply put, Trump’s coercive tactics against the UC are not about improving the lives of working people. It is a transparent attempt to expand Trump’s power by quashing this public good.”

In this lawsuit, California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) joins a coalition of labor unions representing UC workers, led by American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and also including: the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) UC-AFT Local 1474; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 399; the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA); the UC Berkeley Faculty Association (UCB FA), the UC Davis Faculty Association (UCD FA), the UC Irvine Faculty Association (UCI FA), the UC Los Angeles Faculty Association (UCLA FA), the UC Merced Faculty Association (UCM FA), the UC Riverside Faculty Association (UCR FA), the UC San Diego Faculty Association (UCSD FA), the UC San Francisco Faculty Association (UCSFA), the UC Santa Barbara Faculty Association (UCSB FA), and the UC Santa Cruz Faculty Association (UCSC FA) (collectively, the UC FAs); the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America (UPTE-CWA) Local 9119; the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) UAW Local 4811; and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 2010.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.