Registered nurses at MarinHealth Medical Center in Greenbrae, Calif., will hold an informational picket on Friday, Dec. 12, to protest the hospital’s refusal to address nurses’ concerns about staff retention and patient safety in ongoing contract negotiations. The nurses are represented by California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

Marin Health nurses have been in negotiations since June 2025 for a new contract with little to no movement on key issues. The nurses are calling on management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract that improves retention and recruitment, strengthens patient safety and staffing protections, and maintains health care benefits. 

There are not enough charge nurses in the cardiac specialty care department and medical-surgical units, which puts patient safety at risk. Charge nurses are essential to coordinating patient flow, making critical decisions, overseeing patient care and other nurses. In a medical-surgical unit, they typically oversee the nurses caring for 20 to 30 patients. However, at MarinHealth, one charge nurse oversees up to 70 beds on multiple floors in the medical-surgical unit.  

“In the emergency department, we are caring for trauma patients and people whose conditions change in seconds,” said Krystle Davis, RN in the emergency department at MarinHealth. “Some of these patients need significant care, which means they need more nurses.”

Who: Registered nurses at Marin Health
What: Informational picket for patient safety and a fair contract
When: Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, 8:30-11 a.m., Rally at 9 a.m.
Where: MarinHealth Medical Center, 250 Bon Air Road, Greenbrae, Calif. (in front of the hospital)

MarinHealth puts profits over patients instead of providing more resource nurses, even when nurses are out sick. Staffing is stretched too thin and nurses can’t take a break, jeopardizing patient care.

“We are concerned that we will not be able to recruit and retain nurses if the hospital insists on proposals that would more than double health care costs for some of our nurses,” said Lynn Warner, RN in the progressive and metabolic care unit at MarinHealth. “Management is also proposing cuts to incentives for nurses working shifts that are typically challenging to staff, like afternoon and night shifts. This will surely result in a mass exodus of nurses, drastically impacting the care patients receive in the Marin community.”

“MarinHealth nurses love our jobs here,” said David DeBruler, RN in the medical-surgical department at MarinHealth. “We are an important institution in Marin County and we are dedicated to our patients. We want to be here for our community and it’s important the hospital support us so we can support our community.”

California Nurses Association represents more than 700 nurses at Marin Health Medical Center.

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.