Nurses at USC Keck and Norris to strike for seven days

Nurses at Centinela to hold one-day strike

More than two thousand registered nurses in Los Angeles, Calif. will be on strike beginning Thursday, Feb. 19, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

Nurses at USC Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center will be on strike for seven days. Centinela Hospital Medical Center nurses will be on strike for one day. Nurses at all three facilities are in contract negotiations and gave their respective hospital administrators 10 days of advance notice to allow for alternative plans for patient care.

What:   USC Keck and Norris one-week strike

When:  Thursday, Feb. 19, at 7 am to Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6:59 am. 
             Rally at 8:30am on Feb. 19. 

Where: USC Keck, 1500 San Pablo St., Los Angeles, Calif. 
              USC Norris Cancer Center , 1441 Eastlake Ave., Los Angeles, Calif.

What:   Centinela one-day strike

When:  Thursday, Feb. 19, at 7 a.m. to Friday, Feb. 20, at 6:59 a.m. Rally at 1 p.m. 

Where: Centinela Hospital Medical Center, 555 E. Hardy St., Los Angeles, Calif.

USC Keck and Norris nurses reject employers’ health care offers

Nurses are striking over USC’s proposal to restructure employee health care plans that ultimately force RNs to seek care at USC hospitals. RNs warn the introduction of hundreds of RNs and their families to USC facilities will overload an already strained network, leading to longer wait times and delayed care for both employees and existing patients.

Since January 2026, USC nurses have been paying higher out-of-pocket costs for health insurance that provides fewer access to providers across the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Whereas some nurses had enjoyed a no-premium option that allowed them to seek preferred providers at hospitals of their choosing, now they will have to change to USC providers and pay out-of-pocket.

Nurses say USC has removed the no-premium health plan as a bargaining tool, prioritizing leverage at the table over addressing RN concerns about patient safety and RN recruitment and retention.

“Instead of improving access to care, USC has made the no-premium health plan worse and is using it at leverage in negotiations,” said Valerie Hernandez, RN in the telemetry unit at USC Keck. “Nurses shouldn’t have to bargain for basic health care while providing it to others.”

This 10-days’ notice of their strike follows an overwhelming strike authorization vote held at the end of January.

Keck and Norris nurses have been in negotiations since May 2025 for a new contract with little to no movement on key issues. The RNs urge management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract that provides:

• Affordable, comprehensive health care coverage for employees and their families
• Improved staffing resource hours that meet the needs of patient safety
• Improved retention measures to reduce turnover and protect continuity of care

Since bargaining began in May 2025, nurses have held several informational pickets, a one-day strike in October to call attention to the lack of resource nurses leading to thousands of missed meals and breaks, and repeated attempts to resolve these issues at the bargaining table, all of which have been met with inadequate responses from USC management.

California Nurses Association represents 1,800 nurses at both USC facilities.

Centinela RNs demand better staffing practices from Prime

“At Centinela Hospital, nurses are striking because patient safety is being put at risk every day,” said Elexa Elkins, RN at Centinela Hospital. “Chronic short staffing and unsafe conditions make it harder to provide the care our patients deserve. We are standing up because our community deserves better.”

Nurses at Centinela have been in negotiations for a new contract since July 2025, with little to no movement on key issues. This ten-days’ notice of their strike follows a nearly unanimous strike authorization vote on Jan. 14.

California Nurses Association represents 800 RNs at Centinela. In addition to other Los Angeles area strikes happening concurrently, Centinela is one of several Prime Healthcare facilities where nurses have announced strikes this month. Strikes are also set to take place at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev.; Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif.; and West Anaheim Regional Medical Center in Anaheim, Calif.

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.