RNs say elimination of staff will harm quality of care for patients

Registered nurses will hold a press conference and rally at California Hospital Medical Center (CHMC), in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 3, to protest owner and operator CommonSpirit Health’s planned layoffs at 17 hospitals in California. Nurses say layoffs will jeopardize patient care and harm communities. Registered nurses at the majority of CommonSpirit Health facilities in the state are represented by California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

More than 175 health care staff received layoff notices at CommonSpirit facilities in California, from Long Beach to Mount Shasta. At CHMC, which is already short staffed, CommonSpirit has proposed layoffs of 82 positions, including all pediatric unit nurses. The majority of layoffs are ancillary staff positions, including patient transporters, physical therapy aides, occupational therapy aides, telemetry technicians, unit assistants, clerks, and unit secretaries. Nurses, including nurse educators, wound care, and pediatric RNs have also received layoff notices. The loss of ancillary staff will mean less time for nurses to provide care at the bedside with patients as they take on increased administrative work and other non-nursing duties.

“CommonSpirit says they are committed to ‘compassion and caring’ and ‘building healthier communities,’ but these cuts are in direct opposition to their mission,” said CNA President Sandy Reding, RN at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. “CommonSpirit is putting profits before patients. As one of the biggest nonprofit Catholic health care systems, they can afford to invest in health care staffing.”

Who: CommonSpirit Health registered nurses
What: Press Conference and rally to protest CommonSpirit layoffs
When: Monday, August 3, 2026, 8–9 a.m.
Where: California Hospital Medical Center, 1401 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, Calif., in front of hospital entrance

“Nurses depend on ancillary staff to meet the needs of our patients,” said Rachel Gutierrez, RN in the neonatal intensive care unit at CHMC. “These layoffs will mean nurses have to take time away from the direct care needs of our patients, because CommonSpirit will also expect us to do the tasks of the ancillary staff they’re laying off, like  answering phones and opening restricted doors to let visitors in..”

“CommonSpirit has no plan for who will do the work of our essential ancillary staff, except to add it to nurses’ workload when we are already stretched thin,” said Phil Penn, RN in the intensive care unit at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. “Patient care will suffer and nurses won’t have time to care for our patients.”

“Patients will not get timely care when hospitals cut nurses and other health care staff because someone still needs to do the work,” said Genevieve Bottum, RN in the medical telemetry unit at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. “If we no longer have unit secretaries or support staff, nurses may be forced to do that work. The result is delays in patient care, which is unacceptable.”

“Nurse educators ensure that nurses maintain their clinical competencies and have the appropriate training and education to give our patients safe, evidence-based care,” said Jennifer Powers, RN in the medical-surgical unit at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. “Nurses are always learning because we work in a field where there are always new medical techniques and technologies. It doesn’t make sense to cut this critical role.”

“We are speaking out about these layoffs because we care about our patients and our communities,” said Erin Connor, RN in the telemetry unit at Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale.  “We know that cuts negatively affect patients’ care.  

Nurses were notified in June about the proposed layoffs. Since then, RNs at CHMC held an informational picket about the planned layoffs and pediatric closure on June 29, nurses at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz held a protest about the proposed cuts on June 30, and Bakersfield nurses at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and Dignity Health Mercy Hospitals (Downtown and Southwest campuses) held a picket on July 16.

CNA represents nurses in California at the following facilities: Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, Community Hospital of San Bernardino in San Bernardino, Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield, Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, Mercy Hospital of Folsom in Folsom, Mercy Hospital Downtown in Bakersfield, Mercy Hospital Southwest in Bakersfield, Mercy Medical Center in Merced, Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta in Mount Shasta, Mercy Medical Center in Redding, Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, Methodist Hospital of Sacramento in Sacramento, St. Bernadine Medical Center in San Bernardino, St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stockton, St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley, and Woodland Memorial Hospital in Woodland.

CNA represents more than 800 nurses at California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles. CNA/National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, represents more than 17,000 nurses at 33 CommonSpirit Health facilities across the country. Common Spirit has issued layoff notices to nurses and support staff at several facilities throughout California.

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.