Nurses calling on local electeds to return Palantir money and demanding Catholic health executives serve the common good

Nurses from National Nurses United (NNU), the country’s largest nurses union, will protest in St. Louis on June 3. Nurses first plan to protest outside the district office of U.S. Representative Wesley Bell to call on him to return and refuse campaign contributions from Palantir and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). 

Following that, nurses will protest outside the 2026 Catholic Health Assembly to demand better from Catholic health care system executives. This protest comes after NNU released a new report analyzing troubling trends in pediatric unit closures at major hospital systems, especially major Catholic chains.

Protest at Wesley Bell district office
When: Wednesday, June 3, 3:15 p.m.
Where: Wesley Bell St. Louis District Office, 1191 Dr. M.L. King Dr., St. Louis

Protest outside the 2026 Catholic Health Assembly
When: Wednesday, June 3, 5:15 p.m.
Where: Marriott St. Louis Grand, 800 Washington Ave., St. Louis

Nurses plan to amplify the information in the scathing new NNU report, spotlighting impacts on vulnerable patients and communities while the same hospital chains are engaged in destructive union-busting.

“Nurses take action every day to take care of our patients,” said Sandy Reding, operating room nurse at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital in California, president of CNA/NNOC, and vice president of NNU. “We’ll be protesting in St. Louis to demand the same kind of action from elected officials and health care executives.”

Recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found that U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union busting. 

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), NNU’s largest affiliate, represents around 25,000 nurses at Catholic hospitals in the United States.

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.