Prime RNs and health care workers also striking today for safe staffing at four hospitals in Illinois, Nevada, and California

Registered nurses at Central Maine Medical Center (CMMC) in Lewiston, Maine, will hold a march on the boss at their hospital in solidarity with nurses who were unlawfully suspended or fired by Prime Healthcare for speaking up for their patients, announced Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (MSNA/NNOC). NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest union of RNs in the nation.

RNs at Olympia Fields, Saint Francis, and CMMC, filed petitions on Aug. 24 with the National Labor Relations Board to hold union elections to join NNOC. Nurses are also holding a protest at Olympia Fields today against Prime’s union busting.

In gross violation of national labor laws, Prime Healthcare over the past week has retaliated against registered nurses for speaking up and fighting for their patients at two of its Chicago-area hospitals, suspending or firing nurses. Nurses are demanding the immediate reinstatement of their colleagues.

Who:    Registered nurses at Central Maine Medical Center

What:   March on the boss in solidarity with nurses who were suspended or fired at Prime hospitals

When:  Thursday, September 3, 3 p.m. ET

Where: Central Maine Medical Center, 300 Main St., Lewiston, Maine

On-the-ground contact for Central Maine: Vanessa Cuellar, ?747-273-7935?

The nurses were legally joining in on union activities to have a stronger voice in patient care. Workers’ rights to participate in activities to form a union are federally protected under the National Labor Relations Act.

Learn more about Prime’s crimes at crimehealthcare.com.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee represents over 1,800 nurses and health care workers at Prime facilities in California and Nevada and about 400 nurses in Illinois. CNA/NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the nation.

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.

Maine State Nurses Association is part of National Nurses Organizing Committee, representing 4,000 nurses and other caregivers from Portland to Fort Kent. NNOC is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing labor union of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide.