Why UMC Nurses Are Striking — And Why We Need Your Support

On April 21st, UMC nurses gave management 10-day notice for a one-day strike. After more than a year at the bargaining table, we are still fighting for basic protections: safe staffing, fair pay, and the ability to provide quality care to our patients. Management’s response? Delay, deflect, and deny. They’re hoping we’ll give up. They’re wrong.

A supermajority of us have already rejected UMC’s unsafe staffing plans and hollow “merit pay” scheme—because we know what’s at stake. This isn’t just about raises or recognition. It’s about saving lives in a system where we’re constantly being asked to do more with less: fewer nurses, fewer resources, more patients, more pressure. It’s a recipe for burnout, for harm, and for driving good nurses out of the profession entirely.

This is our third strike, and we don’t take that lightly. But the truth is, striking is the only thing that has moved management toward real change. The first two strikes got results—not because we asked nicely, but because we stood together and hit them where it hurts: their profits.

UMC executives—and the hospital industry at large—fear what we represent. They know if we win a strong, enforceable union contract, it sets a precedent for nurses everywhere. It proves that organizing works. That solidarity works. That workers united can beat back corporate greed. That’s why they’re dragging this out. That’s why they’re trying to wait us out.

But we’re still here. And we’re not going anywhere.

This is where you come in. When we strike, we don’t get paid. Worse, management has locked us out after previous strikes, forcing us to go days without work while they bring in out-of-state replacement nurses at outrageous costs. Many of us live paycheck to paycheck. We’ve got families to support, student loans to pay, and no safety net. A strike fund gives us a fighting chance—it helps us hold the line just a little longer.

Every dollar you donate keeps a nurse on the picket line. It’s gas in the tank, food on the table, rent paid. But more than that, it’s a declaration: you believe that workers—not CEOs—should control the future of healthcare.

This fight isn’t just about UMC. It’s about standing up to the broader system that treats people as costs to cut instead of lives to care for. It’s about saying no to a world where executives get bonuses while frontline workers are denied basic dignity. It’s about building power—not just in our hospital, but across New Orleans and beyond.

Help us hold the line. Help us win. Donate to the UMC Nurses’ Strike Fund today. Stand with us, and stand for a future where working people take back what’s ours.

Solidarity forever.