Union election dates also set for three Prime hospitals

Nurses at Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois, gave notice to Prime Healthcare today that they will hold a strike for one day on September 15 to protest the administration’s retaliation against nurses who speak up and fight for their patients, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the nation.

In solidarity with nurses at Olympia Fields, nurses and health care workers at five Prime hospitals in four states will hold sympathy strikes or pickets on the same day. Nurses at Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev.; West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, Calif., and nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif. will go on sympathy strike on Sept. 15. Nurses at two Prime hospitals in two states will hold informational pickets on Sept. 15: Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. In total, more than 2,800 nurses and health care workers will be either striking or picketing on Sept. 15.

The nurses in California are represented by California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United. The health care workers at Shasta Regional Medical Center are represented by Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union. Nurses in Nevada, Illinois, and Maine are represented or seeking representation by NNOC. The nurses and health care workers in Illinois, Nevada, and California began their one-day strike earlier today over Prime’s refusal to address during contract negotiations their deep concerns about patient care and safe staffing.

Union election dates have been scheduled. Nurses at Olympia Fields, Saint Francis, and Central Maine want to unionize. They filed election petitions with the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 24 to join NNOC and will be voting on these dates:

• Saint Francis Hospital election: Sept. 17
• Olympia Fields Hospital: Sept. 23
• Central Maine Medical Center: Sept. 23

Nurses across the country are rising up systemwide against Prime Healthcare because Prime endangers patients and nurses by putting profits above all else. The strike notice for Sept. 15 was delivered after the nurses held a protest this afternoon at Olympia Fields in response to management’s union busting. In addition to suspensions of six nurses at Olympia fields, one nurse at Saint Francis has been suspended for speaking up and advocating for patients.

The suspensions are just one aspect of Prime’s shoddy treatment of its workers. Learn more about Prime’s crimes at crimehealthcare.com.

Prime’s Profiteering

The conditions driving Prime nurses to take unprecedented collective action at their hospitals are part of a broader pattern of Prime negligence and cutting services despite its profits. In 2024, Prime Healthcare made an estimated $4.4 billion in revenue according to credit reports, and Prime’s nonprofit system, Prime Healthcare Foundation, reported another $1.4 billion in revenue in their audited report.

• Prime has a history of acquiring hospitals and then cutting services after it promised to maintain them.
  • After it acquired St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee, Ill., in 2025, Prime shut down the hospital’s obstetrics, gynecology, and childbirth and delivery services, and voluntarily gave up its Trauma Level II designation, resulting in an injunction filed by the Kankakee County state’s attorney, claiming that Prime was dishonest about keeping services open.
  • Prime cut services in 2025 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. and at Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Ill., soon after acquisition, leading to a letter to Prime CEO Prem Reddy from Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin accusing the company of violating its commitments to maintain services to meet community needs.
  • On Sept. 1, 2026, Prime announced that it would cut obstetric services at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago and consolidate them at Saint Mary of Nazareth in Chicago and Olympia Fields Hospital in Olympia Fields.
• In 2024, Prime Healthcare Foundation, which includes Saint Francis Hospital in Illinois and Central Maine Medical Center, claimed more than $78 million in debts they tried to collect from patients who qualify for charity care, according to their own policies.
• Prime’s nonprofit hospitals made more than $104 million in payments to firms owned by Prime CEO Prem Reddy: Prime Healthcare Services Inc., the main for-profit company owning all the for-profit hospitals, Prime Healthcare Management, and Bio-Med Services, Inc., a medical equipment and consulting company. Prime only gave $3.5 million in uncompensated charity care, roughly 0.4 percent of the foundation’s expenses.

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.