Nurses at University Medical Center New Orleans (UMCNO) in Louisiana will hold a strike for three days starting Nov. 11 to protest the refusal of the hospital’s owner and operator, LCMC Health, to address concerns about nursing staff retention. Nurses at UMCNO are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

“We’re tired of LCMC’s revolving door strategy for staffing our hospital,” said Kisha Montes, RN in the behavioral health unit at UMCNO. “It’s not hard to recruit highly talented nurses to a Level 1 Trauma Center in a city like New Orleans, but we’re tired of seeing those nurses leave for other jobs. LCMC needs to work with us to retain the necessary staff to take care of our patients.”

Who: UMCNO nurses, community, and allies
What: Three-day strike for nurse retention
When: Tuesday, Nov. 11, 7 a.m. to Friday, Nov. 14, 6:59 a.m.
Rallies with speakers: Tuesday, Nov. 11, 9 a.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 12, 9 a.m.
Where: University Medical Center New Orleans, 2000 Canal St., New Orleans, La.; at the corner of Canal and Galvez

“Retaining staff is essential to the long-term health of our hospital,” said Ory Mire, RN in case management at UMCNO. “There are centuries of nursing experience in our hospital, and we want to build on that. Like any other job, having experienced, veteran staff makes a difference. We want to retain nurses and all the hospital staff who make patient care possible.”

UMCNO nurses won a historic union election and began negotiating their first union contract with LCMC Health, UMCNO’s operator, in March 2024. Nurses have given advance notice to the hospital for their strike and will maintain a patient protection taskforce throughout.

NNOC/NNU represents 600 nurses at UMCNO.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.