RNs demand serious proposals to improve staffing, retention, break relief

Nurses at Corpus Christi Medical Center (CCMC) in Corpus Christi, Texas, will hold a rally on June 17 to protest failures by HCA management to seriously address nurses’ concerns about staffing, retention, and break relief in contract negotiations. Nurses at CCMC facilities are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

“Hundreds of nurses have disappeared from the bedside at our hospital in just the past year. Many of these nurses are leaving because of the conditions HCA is creating at our hospital,” said Marisa Lugo, RN in the intensive care unit (ICU). “Nurses are being tripled and even quadrupled with patients in the ICU, where they should never have more than two patients and often need to provide one-to-one care.”

Nurses’ current contract expires on June 30, but nurses report that in bargaining sessions to date, HCA – one of the country’s richest healthcare companies – has been focused on shortchanging nurses and their patients, whose care conditions are directly impacted by working conditions at the facility.

• Who:     Nurses at HCA’s Corpus Christi Medical Center
• What:    Protest to demand a strong contract
• When:   Monday, June 17, 6:30 p.m.
• Where: 3315 S. Alameda St., Corpus Christi, Texas; in front of the hospital

“One of our big issues is break relief nurses, who take care of our patients while nurses on twelve-hour shifts get their necessary meal and rest breaks,” said Jana Haley Rodriguez, RN in the 3 West medical surgical unit at CCMC’s Bay Area Medical Center. “Nurses are here for our patients, and we provide the best care when we also have time to eat, drink, and use the bathroom.”

HCA, the largest health system in the country, advertises over 180 hospitals in its network. The company self-reported over $5.2 billion in profits in 2023 but regularly shuts down vital health services at its hospitals. According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, HCA has reported over $31.7 billion in profits since 2018 and executive compensation totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.

HCA co-founder and major shareholder Thomas Frist, Jr., who has extensive experience serving as an executive at HCA, currently ranks in the top 75 of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans and the top 60 of the Bloomberg Billionaire Index of the world’s 500 richest people, with an estimated net worth of nearly $30 billion.

NNOC/NNU represents roughly 745 nurses at CCMC including at Bay Area Medical Center, Doctors Regional Medical Center, Bayview Medical Center, Northshore Emergency Center, ER 24/7 Northwest, and ER 24/7 Rockport, as well as nearly 10,000 nurses at HCA facilities nationwide. NNOC/NNU nurses are currently negotiating new contracts at 17 HCA hospitals in six states.

Correction: A previous version of this release stated the rally is June 13. It is on June 17.

National Nurses Organizing Committee is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates also include California Nurses Association, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.