Around 7 a.m. today (Thursday, June 11), nurses and others set up at tables under a canopy at the corner of Sixth and Arlington streets. At 11 a.m., they were handing out iced horchata and swag. Tacos, they, said, would be arriving soon.
They were hosting an informational picket outside of Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, slated to last until 7 p.m., to protest what their union calls anti-union tactics and a refusal to bargain with them regarding a fair contract.
Prime Healthcare, one of the largest for-profit hospital systems in the U.S., which operates St. Mary’s, “unjustly terminated two registered nurses and active union leaders for lawful union advocacy,” according to a press release from the union, National Nurses United. (The union’s PR person declined to elaborate on what made the terminations unjust.)
The nurses have been in negotiations with Prime Healthcare for a new contract since July 2025. Nurses who were at the picket today cited their top contract desires: competitive wages, improved staff retention and improved transparency from Prime Healthcare.
The nurses are also conducting a vote today to determine whether to strike—hence the long hours today. They served breakfast at the booth and also plan to serve dinner, so their fellow nurses can drop by before or after shifts or on their lunchbreaks to weigh in.
“We had a one-day strike in February, and the hospital has not come back to the negotiating table with us,” said Laura Parkhouse, a telemetry nurse at St. Mary’s.
Jennifer Oaks, also a telemetry nurse, said she and her colleagues do not want to go on strike.
“That is an extreme measure, which is never what we want,” Oaks said. “We want to be back at the bedside, and we want to take care of our patients. Really, the union’s goal is to just settle the contracts. We’ve been out (of contract) for almost a year now. And we just want to get back to business, really.”