Nurses at the New Orleans facility are ready to strike today and ready to work tomorrow, but management is locking them out instead.

Registered nurses at University Medical Center (UMC) in New Orleans, La., are striking today, Oct. 25, with plans to hold a 9 a.m. rally on their strike line. Nurses represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the country's largest nurses union, are striking for one day on Friday in response to management's failure to address patient care and patient safety concerns at UMC in on-going first contract negotiations.

The strike is a historic move for nurses in New Orleans, but management's decision to lock staff nurses out for two days following the strike is unnecessary and punitive. Tomorrow, nurses will hold a return-to-work march to demonstrate their readiness to get back to patient care following their strike. Nurses plan to return to work at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, the normal start of day shift.

One-day strike with rally

When:  Friday, Oct. 25, 7 a.m. to Saturday, Oct. 26, 6:59 a.m.

Rally:   9 a.m. on Friday

Where: University Medical Center, 2000 Canal St., New Orleans, La.
Picketing on Canal St. near the intersection with Galvez St.

Return-to-work march

When:  Saturday, Oct. 26, 6:45 a.m.

Where: University Medical Center, 2000 Canal St., New Orleans, La.; march begins from corner of Canal St. and S. Roman St.

"Nurses are at the bedside every day caring for our patients, and we're doing the same patient advocacy at the bargaining table," said Dana Judkins, RN in the trauma intensive care unit. "We decided to strike to show management we're serious about prioritizing patient care at UMC. Locking us out shows that management's priorities are trying to punish nurses for fighting for our patients."

"Management claims that they can't let us come back," said Umer Mukhtar, RN in the medical intensive care unit. "But there's no reason we can't come back to work on Saturday. Instead, management wants to punish us for standing up and speaking out. They claim they're limited by travel nurse contracts, but if they would stop stalling and get our contract done, we wouldn't be striking at all."

NNOC/NNU represents nearly 600 registered nurses at University Medical Center. Earlier in October, UMC nurses announced their intent to vote on striking as they rallied with nurses from across the country. UMC nurses continue to fight for a first contract after making history by voting to join NNOC/NNU last December. Since contract negotiations began in March, nurses have rallied several times, including in June, July, and September. They gave management advance notice of their strike.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 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.